Chemoprevention of mammary, cervix and nervous system carcinogenesis in animals using cultured Panax ginseng drugs and preliminary clinical trials in patients with precancerous lesions of the esophagus and endometrium.

The anticarcinogenic effects and mechanisms of the biotechnological drugs of Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer cultivated in Russia, bioginseng, panaxel and panaxel- 5, were studied. Bioginseng was produced from a tissue culture of ginseng root cultured on standard medium, whereas panaxel and panaxel-5 were produced from ginseng tissue root cultures using standard mediums enriched with 2-carboxyethylgermanium sesquioxide and 1-hydroxygermatran-monohydrate respectively. All three ginseng drugs inhibited the development of mammary tumors induced by intramammary injections of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) in rats, the development of the brain and spinal cord tumors induced by transplacental administration of N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) in rats, and the development of uterine, cervical and vaginal tumors induced by intravaginal applications of 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA) in mice. The ginseng drugs induced the cytotoxic activity of macrophages in mice, enhanced T-lymphocyte rosette formation in guinea pigs exposed to cyclophosphamide, and stimulated the production of thyroid hormones in rats. These mechanisms may contribute to the anticarcinogenic action of the ginseng drugs. The organic germanium compounds present in panaxel and panaxel-5 did not potentiate the anticarcinogenic or immuno- stimulatory effects as much as biogeinseng. Preliminary clinical trials with panaxel and bioginseng were carried out in patients with precancerous lesions of the esophagus and endometrium. Panaxel was found to have a strong therapeutic effect in patients suffering from chronic erosive esophagitis. Bioginseng induced the regression of adenomatous-cystic hyperplasia of the endometrium in some patients. Thus, we conclude that the drugs of ginseng appear to hold considerable promise for future cancer chemoprevention.

[Relationship between the character of pathological changes in the esophageal mucosa and deficiency of several vitamins in a population with high incidence of esophageal cancer]. / Sviaz' mezhdu kharakterom patologicheskikh izmenenii slizistoi obolochki pishchevoda i defitsitom nekotorykh vitaminov v populiatsii s vysokoi chastotoi raka pishchevoda.

A comparative study of the esophageal mucosa versus vitamin status in the adult male population of Muinak District of the Karakalpak ASSR, characterized by high incidence of esophageal cancer, established a significantly high frequency of chronic esophagitis. The differential evaluation of different pathologies of the esophageal mucosa suggested a link between catarrhal and erosive esophagitis and vitamin B2 deficiency and atrophic esophagitis and vitamin A deficit.

[Detectability of oncological patients in the Kar-kalpak ASSR based on expedition data]. / Vyiavliaemost' onkologicheskikh bol'nykh v Karakalpakski ASSR po dannym ékspeditsii.

A two-step prophylactic examination was employed in 5921 healthy persons living in rural areas of the Kara-Kalpak ASSR, different malignant tumors being revealed in 47 persons (i. e. in 0.79 per cent of the individuals under examination). It is worth noting that the high rate of recognition of oncological patients in mass prophylactic examinations is mainly due to the use of a fibergastroscope made in Japan. Among the cases with revealed malignancies esophageal cancer takes the first place (in 26 persons), making 55.3%. Large-frame esophagofluorography in 21 patients allowed the detection of the esophageal and cardiac involvement, thus encouraging to raise a question of the organization of large-frame fluorography of the esophagus in persons, aged over 40, in the areas and republics where esophageal cancer is a commonly observed pathology.