• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.200-206
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• 2015

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to report the possibility of treatment of locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer with Traditional Korean Medicine based allergen-removed Rhus verniciflua Stokes (ARVS) following chemoradiotherapy. Methods: A patient with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (stage IIIB) felt chest discomfort, fatigue, and anxiety after chemoradiotherapy. To prevent recurrence, he opted to receive Traditional Korean Medicine. Results: After treatment with ARVS, the size of the residual primary cancer and a metastatic lymph node decreased, without new cancerous regions. The patient has maintained good performance and has shown prolonged overall survival. Conclusions: This report suggests that ARVS may play a therapeutic role in the treatment of locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer after chemoradiotherapy. Further studies will be needed to determine the effect of ARVS on locally-advanced unresectable non-small cell lung cancer.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.101-105
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• 2009

Alcohol oxidation activities and optimization of extraction conditions of Rrhus verniciflua Stokes (RVS) extract were evaluated for the development of a functional biomaterial for improving liver function. When alcohol oxidation activities of RVS was analyzed, the Rrhus verniciflua Stokes bark (RVSB) were higher than the Rrhus verniciflua Stokes heartwood (RVSH). Alcohol oxidation activity value of RVSB increased in a concentration-dependent manner. In the comparative analysis between Hovenia dulcis Thunb (HOT) and Alnus japonica Steud (AJS) which was reported as a alcohol oxidation material, alcohol oxidation activity is much higher than the others. The experimental conditions were optimized for alcohol oxidation-active components production from RVSB. The extraction conditions such as temperature, time, pH and particle size were performed. It was recommended to extract the alcohol oxidation-active components from RVSB by hot water (pH 7.0) at $85^{\circ}C$ for 8 hours.

• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.19-23
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• 2011

Objectives : The aim of this study was to evaluate safety of Rhus Verniciflua STOKES as a combination therapy of Oriental and conventional cancer treatment. So, We investigated liver function test(especially total bilirubin, AST, ALT, and ALP) levels in outpatients at an oriental medical clinic, to know whether Rhus Verniciflua STOKES decotion (Chijongtang) was hepatotoxic. The outpatients were treated with Rhus Verniciflua STOKES decotion(Chijongtang) during intravenous or oral chemotherapy. Methods : We surveyed whether Chijongtang caused liver injury in patients, who visited and took Chijongtang at Hana oriental medical clinic, from March, 2008 to November 2011. We looked over all the liver function tests of those patients, done during medication. Patients who had no records of liver function tests or with basal liver disease were excluded. And patients were classified into normal and abnormal liver function groups. Results and Conclusions : 48 patients were enrolled, and their mean dosage was 300ml/day, and the mean medication period was 9.3 (2-42) months. During and after medication, there were no abnormal liver function test results at all, in the normal liver function group. and 10 out of 11 patients in the abnormal liver function group showed normal liver function test levels. Roughly speaking, according to the above results, it seems that taking Chijongtang did not cause hepatotoxicity. And it seems Chijongtang has hepatoprotective effect. But we still need more laboratory and clinical research to reach a more definitive conclusion.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.825-829
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• 2006

Rhus verniciflua Stokes has been used for treatment of blood stasis and abdominal mass in Oriental medicine. Rhus verniciflua Stokes has been experimentally reported to exert antioxidant, antiproliferative, antithrombotic and apoptotic activities. In the present study, the antiangiogenic and in vivo antitumor activities of aqueous extract of processed Rhus verniciflua Stokes (Nexia) by heat were examined to elucidate its anticancer mechanism. Nexia showed weak cytotoxiicty against human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and Lewis lung carcinoma cells (LLC) with IC50 of${\sim}200\;{\mu}g/ml\;and\;>200\;{\mu}g/ml$, respectively. Nexia significantly inhibited the proliferation and migratory activity in vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) treated HUVEC. Furthermore, Nexia effectively suppressed the tumor volume in A549 nonsmall lung cancer bearing athymic nude mice, CanN. Cg-Foxn 1nu/CrljBgi up to 40.7% as well as tumor weight incised from LLC cells innoculated into the flank of C57BL/6 mice up to -50% compared with untreated control at a dose of 300 mg/kg. Taken together, these results suggest that processed Rhus verniciflua Stokes may inhibit the growth of Lewis lung carcinoma cells partly via inhibition of angiogenesis and can be potently applied to angiogenesis dependent cancers. However, it still needs a further research on molecular mechanism, angiogenesis animal study and clinical trial in future.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.309-318
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• 2005

Rhus verniciflua Stokes (RVS) has been used as a food supplement and a traditional herbal medicine. In this study, we prepared various flavonoid fractions (RS, RW1, RW2 and RWE) from a hot water extract of RVS and their influence on male reproductive organs and spermatogenesis were studied in rats which were orally administered 200 mg/kg of them for 8 weeks. All experimental groups did not show any significant changes in body weight and blood clinical chemistry for liver function. Plasma testosterone level was elevated about 3.7, 5.2 and 6.3 folds in RW1, RW2 and RWE groups, respectively. The weights of testes and epididymides tended to increase slightly without the statistical significance in RW2 and RWE. The spermatozoon motility and epididymal sperm concentration were significantly increased (P<0.05) in RWE and RW1, respectively, when compared to the control group. There was no significant difference in histology and apparent shape of testes and epididymides among the control and the experimental groups. Collectively, RWE showed effectively the elevation of plasma testosterone level, spermatozoon motility and the epididymal sperm concentration without the significant increase of testis and epidiymides weights. When the component HPLC profile among the flavonoids fractions of RVS was compared, the ratio of components were only different. These findings suggest that the Rhus flavonoid fraction, particularly RWE, can stimulate the androgen-dependent male sexual function and it can be applied to the material of functional food for enhancing the sexual function.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.271.3-272
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• 2003

Rhus verniciflua Stokes (RVS) is a widely used herbal plant with various biological properties. Our previous study using in vitro platelet aggregation in whole blood showed that the fractions of RVS had strong anti-aggregatory activity. In this study, using in vitro platelet aggregation in PRP and coagulation parameters, to investigate the anti-platelet activity and anticagulant effects of RVS ethyl acetate layer, the layer was subsequently fractionated by ODS columm chromatograph (50％ MeOH). (omitted)

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.855-863
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• 1999

To develop new natural antioxidants, antioxidative activity of ethanol (75%) extracts from 50 edible or medicinal plants were examined on lard and palm oil by Rancimat method ($120^{\circ}C$, 20 L/hr). The extracts from Rhus verviciflua STOKES showed comparatively strong antioxidative activity on test. Of the solvents used for extraction, chloroform extract exhibited the strongest antioxidant activity. AI (antioxidant index: induction period of oil containing extract/induction period of control oil) of chloroform extract was higher than that of commercial antioxidant, such as BHT, BHA and ${\delta}-tocopherol$. Free phenolic acid fraction (200 ppm) of the chloroform extract from 75% EtOH extract of Rhus verniciflua STOKES (RCF) showed stronger activity than that of BHT, BHA, and ${\delta}-tocopherol$ at the same concentration. RCF-11 and RCF-13 fractions separated by silicagel column chromatography from the RCF showed stronger activity than other fractions by the Rancimat method.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.208-212
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• 2009

The heartwood of Rhus verniciflua Stokes (Anacardiaceae) is widely used for a medicinal plant to treat diabetes mellitus and lingering intoxication in the folkloric society of Korea, while the stem bark has been traditionally used to treat menstrual disorder and helminthiasis. We previously reported that a flavonoid, fustin, isolated from the heartwood of R. verniciflua is effective in Alzheimer‘s disease and rheumatoid arthritis. To explore the possibility to produce more flavonoid-rich fraction from this plant, the MeOH extracts from the plant parts of stem bark, outer heartwood, and inner heartwood were quantitatively analyzed by HPLC. Phenolic or flavonoid compounds (chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, sulfuretin, fustin, fisetin, luteolin and astragalin) were detectable in the HPLC chromatogram. The orange-colored inner heartwood was found to contain the highest levels of fustin (16.96 mg/g) and sulfuretin (2.22 mg/g). Moreover, the inner heartwood accumulated fustin and sulfuretin at least 4-fold higher level as compared to the stem bark and outer heartwood. The levels of total phenolic compounds positively correlated with the extents of antioxidant properties. Therefore, the inner heartwood of R. verniciflua could be used to increase fustin concentration of the extract which is capable of treating Alzheimer‘s disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

• 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.