Active Phytochemicals from Chinese Herbal Medicines Anti-Cancer Activities and Mechanisms

Introduction
Overview: General Principles
Combination of Cancer Drugs
Plant-Derived Active Phytochemicals Show Various Biologic and Pharmacological Activities in Cancer
Therapeutic Benefits of Phytochemicals
Mechanism of Cancer Drug Action
Inhibition of Cancer Growth by Herbal Medicines
Herbal Formulations in Folk Medicine
Exploration of Herbal Medicine
List of Selected Phytochemicals

Biography

Dr. Wing Shing Ho, PhD, is associate professor of the biochemistry programme of School of Life Sciences at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. He earned his BS in biochemistry (1979) from the University of Alberta and MA in chemistry (1982) and PhD in biological chemistry (1985) from the State University of New York at Buffalo. After completing a postdoctoral training in the Pediatrics Department at SUNYAB, he moved to the Department of Chemistry of the University of Utah as a postdoc investigating the methodology of isolation and purification of DNA and subsequently moved to the Center for Human Toxicology of the University of Utah as a research associate investigating the role of hepatic toxicants on liver metabolism in lab animals. In 1994, Dr. Ho was appointed lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry and, in 2005, he was appointed associate professor at The Chinese University of Hong Kong and became an instrumental part of the toxicology programme in the School of Life Sciences.

Dr. Ho holds memberships in several professional associations, including the United States Society of Toxicology, the American Chemical Society, the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Institute of Chemists (fellow), and the Protein Society. He has been appointed a consultant scientist by professional groups and the local government, including Government Secretariat Home Affairs Bureau and the HK Chemical Waste Association.

Dr. Ho’s work has been supported in part by the university research grants from the Hong Kong Higher Education and Innovation and Technology Commission and the Croucher foundation. He has received awards from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology for students’ papers.

Dr. Ho has authored and coauthored approximately 100 papers and proceedings in peer-reviewed international journals and hold patents on herbal medicines. He has contributed original data to Protein Data Bank (PDB) and has applied for patents under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) for anticancer agents in the United States. He lectures regularly to toxicology, college undergraduate, and graduate students. Dr. Ho continues to perform fundamental research on the cytotoxic effects of environmental and food chemicals and the development of therapeutic agents on cultured human cells and animal models.

With a focus on cancer therapy, this book explores the ways in which conventional treatments can be combined with traditional Chinese herbal extracts to produce better outcomes. This is an innovative approach, as most accounts focus on one or other aspect. Chapters on combination drugs and plant-derived compounds known to be active against cancer are accompanied by others on the therapeutic benefits of phytochemicals, the mechanisms of cancer drug actions, and the ways in which they inhibit cancer growth.

The book also covers other areas such as the treatment and prevention of dementia; eight plant extracts are listed as showing promising effects either for cognitive symptoms, behavioural and psychological symptoms, or for cholinesterase inhibition.

Although this book is aimed primarily at research-level pharmacists, it also serves as a useful introduction to Chinese traditional medicine for a western audience including medical students. Each chapter has a full list of references, including many by Chinese authors, and the appendix contains a list of selected phytochemicals along with their chemical formulae.

- John Edmondson, Chromatographia, Volume 82, Issue 2