Systematic Review of the Use of Phytochemicals for Management of Pain in Cancer Therapy

Abstract

Pain in cancer therapy is a common condition and there is a need for new options in therapeutic management. While phytochemicals have been proposed as one pain management solution, knowledge of their utility is limited. The objective of this study was to perform a systematic review of the biomedical literature for the use of phytochemicals for management of cancer therapy pain in human subjects. Of an initial database search of 1,603 abstracts, 32 full-text articles were eligible for further assessment. Only 7 of these articles met all inclusion criteria for this systematic review. The average relative risk of phytochemical versus control was 1.03 [95% CI 0.59 to 2.06]. In other words (although not statistically significant), patients treated with phytochemicals were slightly more likely than patients treated with control to obtain successful management of pain in cancer therapy. We identified a lack of quality research literature on this subject and thus were unable to demonstrate a clear therapeutic benefit for either general or specific use of phytochemicals in the management of cancer pain. This lack of data is especially apparent for psychotropic phytochemicals, such as the Cannabis plant (marijuana). Additional implications of our findings are also explored.

Tasty THC: Promises and Challenges of Cannabis Edibles

“…This research has focused primarily on a handful of the multitude of medical conditions and symptoms for which the benefits of cannabis have been proclaimed anecdotally, including muscle spasm and chronic pain (Borgelt, Franson, Nussbaum, & Wang, 2013; Harrison, Heritier, Childs, Bostwick, & Dziadzko, 2015), nausea and vomiting (Smith, Azariah, Lavender, Stoner, & Bettiol, 2015), epilepsy (Friedman & Devinsky, 2015), appetite stimulation (Gorter, 1999), cancer (Pacher, 2013), and several psychiatric disorders (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression; Betthauser, Pilz, & Vollmer, 2015; Zlebnik & Cheer, 2016). To date, the quality of evidence supportive of cannabinoid treatment for spasticity and chronic pain has been moderate, whereas only low-quality evidence was available to support its use for nausea and vomiting and for weight gain in patients with HIV/AIDS or cancer (for a review, see Whiting et al, 2015).…”

Optimization of an in silico protocol to characterize membrane PAINS

“…Although the selectivity problems associated to PAINS have been the main focus of the scientific community, there are other categories, like phytochemicals, that, due to the compound large abundance and perceived health benefits, gained a lot of recent attention. 11 Phytochemicals are one of the major components of plants and have been long used in traditional medicine to treat several different health problems. 12 The molecular mechanism associated with these compounds has been conventionally interpreted or theorized by effects on receptors, biological pathways, ion channels, and transporters.…”

Optimization of an in Silico Protocol Using Probe Permeabilities to Identify Membrane Pan-Assay Interference Compounds

“…Compound fluorescence events, chelation, chemical aggregation, redox activity, membrane perturbation/disruption, and nonselective compounds are just a few examples of characteristic interference chemicals. Although the selectivity problems associated with PAINS have been the main focus of the scientific community, there are other categories, like phytochemicals, that, due to the compound large abundance and perceived health benefits, gained a lot of recent attention . Phytochemicals are one of the major components of plants and have long been used in traditional medicine to treat several different health problems .…”