Adjuvant effects of fermented red ginseng extract on advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with chemotherapy.

Chin J Integr Med. 2017 May;23(5):331-337. doi: 10.1007/s11655-015-2146-x. Epub 2015 Jul 4. Jiang SL1,2, Liu HJ3, Liu ZC4, Liu N2, Liu R1, Kang YR5, Ji JG6, Zhang C7, Hua BJ8, Kang SJ9. Author information 1 Department of Oncology, Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100053, China. 2 Department of Oncology, Jining First People's Hospital, Jining, Shandong Province, 272000, China. 3 School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China. 4 Institute of International Education, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, 250000, China. 5 Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation (IACF), Joongbu University, Daejeon, 999007, Republic of Korea. 6 Department of Oriental Health Care, Joongbu University, Daejeon, 999007, Republic of Korea. 7 Department of Stomatology, Jining First People's Hospital, Jining, Shandong Province, 272000, China. 8 Department of Oncology, Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100053, China. huabaojin@sohu.com. 9 Department of Herbal Pharmaceutical Science, Joongbu University, Daejeon, 999007, Republic of Korea. sjkang@joongbu.ac.kr. Abstract OBJECTIVE: To investigate the adjuvant therapeutic effects of fermented red ginseng (FRG) extract on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with chemotherapy. METHODS: A total of 60 patients with advanced NSCLC were divided into two groups using a random number table, i.e., the gemcitabine plus cisplatin (GP) chemotherapy alone group (26 patients) and the FRG + GP chemotherapy group (34 patients), for 60-day treatment. Patients were then assessed according to the Fatigue Symptom Inventory, Chinese medicine symptoms score, Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, Self-Rating Depression Scale, Karnofsky Performance Status Scale, and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung. In addition, chemotherapy toxicity and tumor biomarkers were measured. RESULTS: For NSCLC patients after chemotherapy, FRG extract significantly improved the FSI score, CM symptoms score, psychological status, physical conditions, and quality of life and reduced chemotherapy toxicity, but the expression levels of carcinoembryonic antigen, cytokeratin-19 fragments, and neuron-specific enolase were not significantly different between the chemotherapy alone and the FRG + chemotherapy groups or between pre- and post-treatments. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that FRG extract had an adjuvant effect on advanced NSCLC patients treated with chemotherapy. Further studies with a larger sample size will verify the current findings. KEYWORDS: Chinese medicine; Korean red ginseng; chemotoxicity; fermented red ginseng extract; lung cancer; tumor adjuvant therapy PMID: 26142337 DOI: 10.1007/s11655-015-2146-x [Indexed for MEDLINE]