Does St. John’s Wort cause regression in gastrointestinal system adenocarcinomas?

Abstract

St. John’s Wort (SJW) is an old herb which has long been consumed widely for its anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and anti-depressive properties. Here we present a detailed clinical evaluation of three cases (two colon and one duodenal adenocarcinoma) with remarkable and intensive lymphoplasmocytic host reaction, at the basal part of tumor, intensive fibrosis, giant cells, plasma cell increase in lymph nodes and few giant cells in germinal centers in resection specimens. The observation of similar host reaction in those tumors having otherwise usual appearance was interesting. None of the cases received neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy or additional treatment before surgery but only SJW. These cases are presented to increase the awareness about such cases. Further research is needed to reveal the possible effect of SJW, which has long been consumed for different treatment purposes, on human tumors.

Keywords: St. John’s Wort; Adenocarcinoma; Giant cell

Core tip: St. John’s Wort (SJW) is a well known herb that was used in treatment of many diseases during centuries. In this article we offer a perspective about the anti-tumoral effect of SJW with possible mechanisms and pathological data in three gastrointestinal cancer cases, where usage of SJW was identified in history questioning because of tumor regression and intensive inflammatory host reaction following pathological examination.