BACKGROUND: The herbal mixture PC-SPES, used to manage advanced prostate cancer, has proven thrombogenic and highly estrogenic in clinical trials. However, attempts to identify the active compounds in PC-SPES have yielded incongruous results. Moreover, warfarin was identified in the serum of a patient taking PC-SPES who experienced a bleeding disorder. To determine the active components in PC-SPES potentially responsible for these effects, we analyzed PC-SPES lots manufactured from l996 through mid-2001. METHODS: Antineoplastic activity of PC-SPES and its individual component extracts was determined by colony-forming assays with several prostate cancer cell lines, and estrogenicity was determined by analyzing expression of an estrogen-responsive reporter gene in breast cancer cells. High-pressure liquid chromatography was used to isolate, identify, and quantify components of PC-SPES. Components were also identified by proton nuclear magnetic resonance, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and mass spectra analysis. RESULTS: PC-SPES lots manufactured from 1996 through mid-1999 contained the synthetic compounds indomethacin (range = 1.07-13.19 mg/g) and diethylstilbestrol (range = 107.28-159.27 micro g/g) and were two to six times more antineoplastic and up to 50 times more estrogenic than lots manufactured after the spring of 1999. In lots manufactured after mid-1999, gradual declines in the concentrations of indomethacin (from 1.56 to 0.70 mg/g), diethylstilbestrol (from 46.36 to 0.00 micro g/g), and total phytosterols (from 0.586 to 0.085 mg/g) were observed. Warfarin was identified for the first time in lots manufactured after July 1998 (range = 341-560 micro g/g). In the August 2001 lot, increases were found in concentrations of the natural products licochalcone A (from 27.6 to 289.2 micro g/g) and baicalin (from 12.5 to 38.8 mg/g). CONCLUSIONS: The phytochemical composition of PC-SPES varied by lot, and chemical analyses detected various amounts of the synthetic drugs diethylstilbestrol, indomethacin, and warfarin and several natural products. To qualify for clinical pharmacologic exploration, nutritional supplements including herbal mixtures should meet standards of quality control under the Good Manufacturing Practice system, and the manufacturers of such supplements should provide reliable analytical quality assurance.
BACKGROUND: The herbal mixture PC-SPES, used to manage advanced prostate cancer, has proven thrombogenic and highly estrogenic in clinical trials. However, attempts to identify the active compounds in PC-SPES have yielded incongruous results. Moreover, warfarin was identified in the serum of a patient taking PC-SPES who experienced a bleeding disorder. To determine the active components in PC-SPES potentially responsible for these effects, we analyzed PC-SPES lots manufactured from l996 through mid-2001. METHODS: Antineoplastic activity of PC-SPES and its individual component extracts was determined by colony-forming assays with several prostate cancer cell lines, and estrogenicity was determined by analyzing expression of an estrogen-responsive reporter gene in breast cancer cells. High-pressure liquid chromatography was used to isolate, identify, and quantify components of PC-SPES. Components were also identified by proton nuclear magnetic resonance, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and mass spectra analysis. RESULTS: PC-SPES lots manufactured from 1996 through mid-1999 contained the synthetic compounds indomethacin (range = 1.07-13.19 mg/g) and diethylstilbestrol (range = 107.28-159.27 micro g/g) and were two to six times more antineoplastic and up to 50 times more estrogenic than lots manufactured after the spring of 1999. In lots manufactured after mid-1999, gradual declines in the concentrations of indomethacin (from 1.56 to 0.70 mg/g), diethylstilbestrol (from 46.36 to 0.00 micro g/g), and total phytosterols (from 0.586 to 0.085 mg/g) were observed. Warfarin was identified for the first time in lots manufactured after July 1998 (range = 341-560 micro g/g). In the August 2001 lot, increases were found in concentrations of the natural products licochalcone A (from 27.6 to 289.2 micro g/g) and baicalin (from 12.5 to 38.8 mg/g). CONCLUSIONS: The phytochemical composition of PC-SPES varied by lot, and chemical analyses detected various amounts of the synthetic drugs diethylstilbestrol, indomethacin, and warfarin and several natural products. To qualify for clinical pharmacologic exploration, nutritional supplements including herbal mixtures should meet standards of quality control under the Good Manufacturing Practice system, and the manufacturers of such supplements should provide reliable analytical quality assurance.
Authors: Keith I Block; Charlotte Gyllenhaal; Leroy Lowe; Amedeo Amedei; A R M Ruhul Amin; Amr Amin; Katia Aquilano; Jack Arbiser; Alexandra Arreola; Alla Arzumanyan; S Salman Ashraf; Asfar S Azmi; Fabian Benencia; Dipita Bhakta; Alan Bilsland; Anupam Bishayee; Stacy W Blain; Penny B Block; Chandra S Boosani; Thomas E Carey; Amancio Carnero; Marianeve Carotenuto; Stephanie C Casey; Mrinmay Chakrabarti; Rupesh Chaturvedi; Georgia Zhuo Chen; Helen Chen; Sophie Chen; Yi Charlie Chen; Beom K Choi; Maria Rosa Ciriolo; Helen M Coley; Andrew R Collins; Marisa Connell; Sarah Crawford; Colleen S Curran; Charlotta Dabrosin; Giovanna Damia; Santanu Dasgupta; Ralph J DeBerardinis; William K Decker; Punita Dhawan; Anna Mae E Diehl; Jin-Tang Dong; Q Ping Dou; Janice E Drew; Eyad Elkord; Bassel El-Rayes; Mark A Feitelson; Dean W Felsher; Lynnette R Ferguson; Carmela Fimognari; Gary L Firestone; Christian Frezza; Hiromasa Fujii; Mark M Fuster; Daniele Generali; Alexandros G Georgakilas; Frank Gieseler; Michael Gilbertson; Michelle F Green; Brendan Grue; Gunjan Guha; Dorota Halicka; William G Helferich; Petr Heneberg; Patricia Hentosh; Matthew D Hirschey; Lorne J Hofseth; Randall F Holcombe; Kanya Honoki; Hsue-Yin Hsu; Gloria S Huang; Lasse D Jensen; Wen G Jiang; Lee W Jones; Phillip A Karpowicz; W Nicol Keith; Sid P Kerkar; Gazala N Khan; Mahin Khatami; Young H Ko; Omer Kucuk; Rob J Kulathinal; Nagi B Kumar; Byoung S Kwon; Anne Le; Michael A Lea; Ho-Young Lee; Terry Lichtor; Liang-Tzung Lin; Jason W Locasale; Bal L Lokeshwar; Valter D Longo; Costas A Lyssiotis; Karen L MacKenzie; Meenakshi Malhotra; Maria Marino; Maria L Martinez-Chantar; Ander Matheu; Christopher Maxwell; Eoin McDonnell; Alan K Meeker; Mahya Mehrmohamadi; Kapil Mehta; Gregory A Michelotti; Ramzi M Mohammad; Sulma I Mohammed; D James Morre; Vinayak Muralidhar; Irfana Muqbil; Michael P Murphy; Ganji Purnachandra Nagaraju; Rita Nahta; Elena Niccolai; Somaira Nowsheen; Carolina Panis; Francesco Pantano; Virginia R Parslow; Graham Pawelec; Peter L Pedersen; Brad Poore; Deepak Poudyal; Satya Prakash; Mark Prince; Lizzia Raffaghello; Jeffrey C Rathmell; W Kimryn Rathmell; Swapan K Ray; Jörg Reichrath; Sarallah Rezazadeh; Domenico Ribatti; Luigi Ricciardiello; R Brooks Robey; Francis Rodier; H P Vasantha Rupasinghe; Gian Luigi Russo; Elizabeth P Ryan; Abbas K Samadi; Isidro Sanchez-Garcia; Andrew J Sanders; Daniele Santini; Malancha Sarkar; Tetsuro Sasada; Neeraj K Saxena; Rodney E Shackelford; H M C Shantha Kumara; Dipali Sharma; Dong M Shin; David Sidransky; Markus David Siegelin; Emanuela Signori; Neetu Singh; Sharanya Sivanand; Daniel Sliva; Carl Smythe; Carmela Spagnuolo; Diana M Stafforini; John Stagg; Pochi R Subbarayan; Tabetha Sundin; Wamidh H Talib; Sarah K Thompson; Phuoc T Tran; Hendrik Ungefroren; Matthew G Vander Heiden; Vasundara Venkateswaran; Dass S Vinay; Panagiotis J Vlachostergios; Zongwei Wang; Kathryn E Wellen; Richard L Whelan; Eddy S Yang; Huanjie Yang; Xujuan Yang; Paul Yaswen; Clement Yedjou; Xin Yin; Jiyue Zhu; Massimo Zollo Journal: Semin Cancer Biol Date: 2015-12 Impact factor: 15.707
Authors: John A Chabot; Wei-Yann Tsai; Robert L Fine; Chunxia Chen; Carolyn K Kumah; Karen A Antman; Victor R Grann Journal: J Clin Oncol Date: 2009-08-17 Impact factor: 44.544
Authors: Bernie Garrett; Timothy Caulfield; Blake Murdoch; Matt Brignall; Atul Kumar Kapur; Susan Murphy; Erin Nelson; Jillian Reardon; Mark Harrison; Jonathan Hislop; Barbara J Wilson-Keates; Joseph Anthony; Peter S Loewen; Richard M Musoke; Joan Braun Journal: Health Soc Care Community Date: 2021-05-26