• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.288-293
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• 2002

Allergen-removed-extract was produced from Rush verniciflua by two phase methods. Phase one was high temperature treatment of Rush verniciflua tree to get allergen-removed-extract. Phase two was extraction of solution from phase one product using water or organic solvents. The solutions from above method show high antioxidant activity, anticancer activity, and improvement in lung function, but did not contain urushiol family compounds.

• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.35-41
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• 2011

Background : Lung cancer is one of the most common malignancy in the world. Types of lung cancer are Non small cell lung cancer and small cell lung cancer. Subtypes of Non small cell lung cancer are adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and large cell carcinoma. Knowing the type of lung cancer is important in determining both treatment and prognosis. Recently, due to newly developed anti-cancer drugs, squamous cell carcinoma has relatively poor prognosis than non-squamous cell carcinoma. Case : We report a squamous cell lung cancer case treated with allergen removed Rhus verniciflua Stokes (aRVS) extract. The patients initially diagnosed stage squamous cell lung carcinoma, but she refused recommended operation. She initiated aRVS extract monotherapy in October. 2006. The follow up Computed tomography in March. 2007, she diagnosed stable disease of tumor response on aRVS treatment. However, this case was lost to follow up for 6 months while she was treated with tomotherapy. In October 2007, she came back to our cancer center after diagnosed stage IV metastasized lung to lung, and aRVS monotherapy was restarted. She had survived 2 years after metastasis of squamous cell lung carcinoma. Conclusion : Allergen removed Rhus verniciflua Stokes(aRVS) sucessfully prolonged overall survival of a squamous cell lung cancer patient.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.98-103
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• 2014

Objectives: Advanced malignant melanoma (MM) has a poor prognosis, with an expected 2-year survival rate of 10 to 20%. It has long been recognized as an immunogenic tumor, and is worse for elderly patients. Many studies have suggested that herbal treatments improve immune functions, but few clinical studies have reported on this topic. Patients and History: We present two cases of female patients (72 and 77 years old, respectively) with advanced MM. The 72-year-old female patient was, at first, diagnosed with MM with multiple bone metastases. She received resection of the primary lesion, but refused further chemotherapy. The 77-year-old female patient was diagnosed with cutaneous MM of the left heel, with suspicion of sentinel node lymphadenopathy; however, she also refused any conventional treatment due to old age. Course of Therapy and Results: Both patients were exclusively treated with standardized allergen-removed Rhus verniciflua stokes (aRVS) extract combined with Bojungikki-tang (BT, Bu-Zhong-Yi-Qi-Tang in Chinese or Hochu-ekki-to in Japanese). Both patients are still alive and doing well (Feb. 2014), demonstrating that the 72-year-old patient has lived for 27 months and the 77-year-old patient has lived for 31 months without disease progression since the aRVS and BT administration. Conclusion: We suggest that the combination of aRVS extract and BT could be a candidate for overcoming the cancer's immunoediting process especially for elderly MM patients intolerant of conventional treatment.

• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.71-77
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• 2010

This case report documents a case in which the administration of an herbal product, an extract of the lacquer tree, Rhus verniciflua Stokes was related with a prolonged survival in a elderly advanced non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC) patient. A 79-year-old man who had been diagnosed with advanced NSCLC refused conventional therapy and treatment with the allergen-removed Rhus verniciflua Stokes(aRVS) had continued from September 2007 to July 2010. He had survived for 35 months after the administration of aRVS and maintained good performance status with European Cooperative Oncology Group performance status(ECOG PS) of 1. This case suggests that aRVS be alternative treatment for the elderly advanced NSCLC patients.

• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2006

Rhus Verniciflua Stokes has been used for long history to treat blood stasis and cancer in Oriental Medicine. But urushiol, a constituent of Rhus Verniciflua Stokes has T-cell mediated allergic reaction, so it has made clinical limitation. Nexia is allergen removed extract of Rhus Verniciflua Stokes and its extraction process as well as quality control is needed to be standardized. The optimized extraction condition is as follow; temperature is $90{\sim}95^{\circ}C$, volume of slovent 10 times, extraction time >6 hours, pressure $, slovnet water or EtOH(60%), yield 8.1${\sim}$9.8(w/w). HPLC pattern and isolation study showed Nexia contain fisetin(>13.0%), fustin(>7.0%) and no urushiol.

• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.39-43
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• 2012

Objective : This study reports one case of a patient diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the lung cancer with bone metastasis. Methods : A 56-year old male patient was diagnosed as squamous cell lung cancer in 1997 and received chemotherapy. The chemotherapy stopped after one cycle because of toxicity and the lung abscess. After four months from the diagnosis, rib metastasis was found and received the radiation therapy for two weeks. After the treatment, adverse effects such as nausea and anorexia appeared. The patient visited K. Korean Medicine Hospital and started the treatment with the allergen removed Rhus verniciflua stokes (aRVS) since December, 1997. Results and Conclusion : During treatment, the patient's quality of life had improved, and he had survived for 14 years after the administration of aRVS. This case suggests that aRVS can be an alternative treatment for the advanced NSCLC patients with bone metastasis.

• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.63-69
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• 2010

We report a case of an 85-year old man with an adenocarcinoma of the rectosigmoid colon (clinical stage II). Though tumor was resectable, the patient was considered to be inoperable because of old age and comorbidities such as asthma, diabetes and old myocardial infarction. He wanted to receive alternative care, so he was exclusively treated with standardized Allegern-removed Rhus verniciflua Stokes (aRVS) extract and other herbal medicine such as BOJUNGIKGI-TANG GAMIBANG. During 18 months, he has shown good performance status without transfusion. This report suggests that herbal treatment including standardized aRVS for rectosigmoid colon cancer could be an alternative treatment option when it is unabled to be treated by surgical resection.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.129-135
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• 2011

This report documents a case in which the administration of an herbal product, an extract of the lacquer tree, Rhus verniciflua Stokes, as sequential and concurrent treatment with chemotherapy was associated with a long term survival and good quality of life in a patient with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC). A 51-year-old Korean female was referred to the $M{\cdot}{\mu}$ Integrative Cancer Center, East-West Neo Medical centrer, Kyung Hee University for stage IV, metastatic NSCLC. She was treated with aRVS alone for 19 months and then received 1st line paclitaxel/carboplatin combined with aRVS, 2nd line gefitinib, and 3rd line pemetrexed. The number of cycles of pemetrexed administered was seventeen. aRVS was restarted as the 13th pemetrexed was administered. Pemetrexed with aRVS is currently ongoing. This patient has been alive for 41 months, and has been keeping a good performance status so far. We suggest aRVS as sequential and concurrent treatment with chemotherapy is an effective alternative treatment strategy.