Cancer chemotherapy has been successful in delaying cancer progression but the flip side has been its side effects. Kinases have gained popularity as drug targets but achieving target specificity has been a major bottleneck in the development of anti-cancer drugs.  In fact the reason why most of the drugs are being shelved during clinical trials is because of their poor therapeutic index.  The potential benefits of alternative therapy in the treatment of cancer cannot be ruled out, though this field has not been extensively researched. A recent article by Lam and colleagues describes the administration of herbal medicine for toxicity induced by chemotherapy. This herb when administered with the drug stimulates the recovery of intestinal cells, damaged by chemotherapy.  Therefore, manmade synthetic drugs along with natural Herbs can be an effective combination therapy to combat cancer.

Ref:_Lam, W. et al. The four-herb Chinese medicine PHY906 reduces chemotherapy-induced gastrointestinal toxicity. Sci. Transl. Med. 2, (2010)