Kim MK, et al. J Gynecol Oncol. 2017 Sep;29(1):e6. https://doi.org/10.3802/jgo.2018.29.e6

We evaluated the effect of red ginseng on toxicity, health-related quality of life (HRQL) and survival after adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). A total of 30 patients with EOC were randomly assigned to placebo (n = 15) and red ginseng groups (n = 15). All patients took placebo or red ginseng (3000 mg/day) for three months. Then, we compared changes of genotoxicity, HRQL and survival between the two groups. As a result, red ginseng reduced micronuclei yield in comparison with placebo despite no difference of binucleated cells index. Although red ginseng increased serum levels of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase significantly, they were within the normal value. Moreover, there were no differences in adverse events between placebo and red ginseng groups. In terms of HRQL, red ginseng was associated with improved emotional functioning and decreased symptoms of fatigue, nausea and vomiting, and dyspnea, reduced anxiety and interference affecting life and improved daytime somnolence. However, there was no effect of red ginseng on prognosis of EOC. Conclusively, red ginseng may be safe and effective to reduce genotoxicity and improve HRQL despite no benefit of survival in patients with EOC who received chemotherapy.

Kim MK, et al. J Gynecol Oncol. 2015 Dec;27(2):e14. https://doi.org/10.3802/jgo.2016.27.e14

To evaluate the association between mismatch repair (MMR) protein expression and clinico-pathologic outcomes in patients with endometrioid endometrial cancer (EC). A retrospective review of the clinico-pathologic outcomes was performed on patients who were diagnosed with EC and had results of MMR protein immunohistochemistry. MMR-deficient (MMR-d) was defined as absence of expression in any of the 4 MMR proteins (MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, and PMS2). Demographics, pathologic variables, and survival outcomes were compared according to the MMR status. A total of 193 EC patients with available MMR expression data were included, of whom 163 patients had endometrioid type EC. Overall, 44 patients (27.0%) were classified as MMR-d. Compared with MMR-proficient (MMR-p) group, MMR-d group was associated with more frequent lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI, p = 0.001). MMR-d was also related with higher risk of lymph node (LN) metastasis in endometrioid type EC (p = 0.008), especially para-aortic LN metastasis. During the median follow-up period of 19.1 months (1-44.5), MMR-d group, especially MLH1/PMS2 subgroup, showed a tendency of reduced PFS (p = 0.036 and p = 0.008, respectively). On Cox regression analysis, however, LN metastasis remained as the only independent risk factor for PFS (p = 0.004) in endometrioid EC, and MLH1/PMS2 loss showed a marginally significant association (p = 0.054). Our findings of the associations between MMR deficiency and poor prognostic factors, such as LVSI and LN metastasis, may suggest the prognostic value of MMR status in EC and need further prospective validation studies.

Kim NR, et al. J Gynecol Oncol. 2022 Dec;34:e23. https://doi.org/10.3802/jgo.2023.34.e23