乳癌患者服用人參之安全性探討

Safety Issues for Those Patients with Breast Cancer who Take Ginseng

許多乳癌患者會接受中醫治療，也會服用包含人身的中藥方劑。但許多患者與臨床醫師擔心人參可能會加速乳癌細胞分裂，建議患者避免服用。細胞試驗表明人參會刺激乳癌細胞的雌激素受體，增加DNA和RNA的表現，但反而會降低癌細胞的存活率。此外，大規模的病人數據追蹤結果顯示，正在接受Tamoxifen治療的乳癌患者，若也接受人參治療並不會增加子宮內膜癌的風險。而更年期婦女服用人參，也不會增加罹患乳癌的風險。

Many patients with breast cancer pursue Traditional Chinese medication (e.g., Chinese medicine compounds containing Ginseng). However, some clinical doctors recommend patients to avoid taking Ginseng since it may enhance cytokinesis of cancer cells. In fact, cell tests revealed that Ginseng can enhance the activity of estrogen receptor of breast cancer cells. As a result, the survival rate of cancer cells is greatly reduced. Furthermore, the data base established by retrospective studies showed that Ginseng did not increase the risk of endometrial carcinoma for those patients with breast cancer who took Tamoxifen. In addition, Ginseng does not cause the increased risk of breast cancer in menopausal women.