A Brahma Rasayana, ICHOR-CR, as a Cancer Therapy Adjunct

Renee V. Gardner, MD, Principal Investigator
Hernan Correa, MD
Evangeline McKinnon, MS
Graduate Student

Abstract
Organ damage as a late complication of chemotherapy causes shortening of otherwise improved survival, or poor quality of life in survivors of cancer. An example of such damage is doxorubicin-associated cardiomyopathy that is a progressively debilitating disorder for which there is no effective treatment, or preventive or predictive strategy. This complication of doxorubicin therapy is seen with increasing frequency, up to 20 years - thus far - after therapy. While its pathogenesis is poorly understood, it is felt to be mediated partly by oxygen free radical injury to myocardial myocytes, which builds upon preliminary data that suggest a rasayana, ICHOR-CR, used in the practice of Ayurvedic medicine for its immunomodulatory and antioxidant properties, moderates the acute cardiomyopathic effects of doxorubicin, presumably through reduction of lipid peroxidation. We herein propose to study the effects of this herbal preparation on the development of chronic/delayed cardiomyopathy, using a murine model. We shall look for histopathologic and immunochemical evidence of damage, as well as degree of apoptosis and impact on survival. We will study the safety of ICHOR-CR when given with chemotherapy, particularly looking at its effect on hematopoiesis, especially on the earliest hematopoietic stem cells. Using the murine model, competitive repopulation, we will assess long-term efficacy of chemotherapy on established chemotherapy-sensitive transplantable murine tumor. ICHOR-CR is potentially a safe, effective, and inexpensive means of chemoprevention.
Collaboration:

Sponsor: NCCAM/NCI
Duration: 2003-2005