Asian studies of cancer chemoprevention: latest clinical results

Chemoprevention trials in Asia, including those already completed and those now ongoing, are reviewed. Information was mainly collected from Japan, Ko rea and China. Each country features its own characteristics. Cancer chemop revention trials targeting, from various aspects, hepatocellular carcinoma, gastric cancer and colon cancer have been, and are now being, conducted in Japan. Japan also has a long history of basic carcinogenesis research and carcinogenic research using animal experiments. In Korea, ginseng is the ma in focus of studies of chemopreventive agents. A large body of information has been collected and prospective studies are also ongoing. In China, the Linxian study, a cooperative study participated in by China and the NCI of the USA, is well known and the results impressive. However. we must exercis e caution because, for example, the population of Linxian are chronically d eficient in multiple vitamins and trace minerals. This situation may, there fore, differ from that observed in other countries. in any event, chemoprev ention studies will be popular from an economical point of view even in Asi a because cancer is becoming the number one cause of death in these countri es. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.