PMID- 30808274
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20191212
LR  - 20200309
IS  - 1552-695X (Electronic)
IS  - 1534-7354 (Print)
IS  - 1534-7354 (Linking)
VI  - 18
DP  - 2019 Jan-Dec
TI  - Use and Safety of Viscum album L Applications in Cancer Patients With Preexisting 
      Autoimmune Diseases: Findings From the Network Oncology Study.
PG  - 1534735419832367
LID - 10.1177/1534735419832367 [doi]
LID - 1534735419832367
AB  - BACKGROUND: Viscum album L (VA, mistletoe) extracts are commonly used in 
      integrative oncology. Here the clinical safety profile of additional 
      VA-treatments to standard care in cancer patients with preexisting autoimmune 
      diseases was analyzed. METHODS: In this observational cohort study medical data 
      and recorded adverse events (AEs) of treated patients were retrieved from the 
      Network Oncology registry and a safety analysis was performed. RESULTS: A total 
      of 106 patients (median age 63 years) treated with add-on VA-extracts were 
      analyzed. Most frequent autoimmune diseases were Hashimoto's thyroiditis (27%), 
      psoriasis (19%), and ulcerative colitis (15%). Seventeen patients (16%) 
      experienced VA-related AEs, but neither long-term side effects nor VA-therapy 
      discontinuations were recorded. In a subgroup of 30 patients receiving long-term 
      VA-therapy no exacerbations or flares of underlying autoimmune diseases were 
      recorded. Additionally, a significant halving of overall AE-rates was observed 
      during VA-treatment periods (p= 0.019). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that 
      add-on VA-therapy in cancer patients with preexisting autoimmune diseases as 
      Hashimoto's thyroiditis, psoriasis, ulcerative colitis, Grave's disease, and some 
      rheumatic diseases is safe. No higher rates of VA-associated AEs were observed 
      and the overall AE-rates were significantly lowered in VA-therapy periods. 
      However, results should be interpreted with caution in light of the study's 
      observational character.
FAU - Oei, Shiao Li
AU  - Oei SL
AD  - 1 Research Institute Havelhohe, Berlin, Germany.
FAU - Thronicke, Anja
AU  - Thronicke A
AD  - 1 Research Institute Havelhohe, Berlin, Germany.
FAU - Kroz, Matthias
AU  - Kroz M
AD  - 1 Research Institute Havelhohe, Berlin, Germany.
AD  - 3 Institute for Social Medicine, Charite, Berlin, Germany.
AD  - 4 Institute for Integrative Medicine, Witten/Herdecke, Germany.
FAU - Matthes, Harald
AU  - Matthes H
AD  - 1 Research Institute Havelhohe, Berlin, Germany.
AD  - 3 Institute for Social Medicine, Charite, Berlin, Germany.
AD  - 5 Medical Clinic for Gastroenterology, CBF, Charite, Berlin, Germany.
FAU - Schad, Friedemann
AU  - Schad F
AD  - 1 Research Institute Havelhohe, Berlin, Germany.
AD  - 2 Oncological Centre, Hospital Havelhohe, Berlin, Germany.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - United States
TA  - Integr Cancer Ther
JT  - Integrative cancer therapies
JID - 101128834
RN  - 0 (Plant Extracts)
SB  - IM
MH  - Autoimmune Diseases/*drug therapy/etiology
MH  - Cohort Studies
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - Male
MH  - Medical Oncology/methods
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Neoplasms/complications
MH  - Phytotherapy/adverse effects/methods
MH  - Plant Extracts/*adverse effects/*therapeutic use
MH  - Registries
MH  - Viscum album/*adverse effects/*chemistry
PMC - PMC6432670
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - L
OT  - autoimmune diseases
OT  - cancer
OT  - mistletoe
OT  - safety analysis
COIS- Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared the following 
      potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or 
      publication of this article: The Network Oncology was partially funded by Iscador 
      AG Arlesheim, Switzerland; Abnoba GmbH Pforzheim, Germany; and Helixor Heilmittel 
      GmbH Rosenfels, Germany. By contract, researchers were independent from the 
      funder. Friedemann Schad reports grants from Helixor Heilmittel GmbH, grants from 
      Abnoba GmbH, grants from Iscador AG, outside the submitted work. Grants from 
      Helixor Heilmittel GmbH include travel costs and honoraria for speaking. Matthias 
      Kroz received honoraria for lectures from Helixor Heilmittel GmbH outside the 
      submitted work. All other authors declare that no competing financial interests 
      exist.
EDAT- 2019/02/28 06:00
MHDA- 2019/12/18 06:00
PMCR- 2019/02/26
CRDT- 2019/02/28 06:00
PHST- 2019/02/28 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2019/02/28 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2019/12/18 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2019/02/26 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 10.1177_1534735419832367 [pii]
AID - 10.1177/1534735419832367 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Integr Cancer Ther. 2019 Jan-Dec;18:1534735419832367. doi: 
      10.1177/1534735419832367.