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Pruritus is discomfort cutaneous sensation for patients having a skin disorder such as atopic dermatitis, and is often accompanied by scratching behavior. Antihistaminic, steroid and antiallergic drugs are used for the treatment of pruritus. During the course of our studies seeking antipruritic agents from natural resources, we developed an experimental mice model to treat a number of samples in a short time to evaluate the antipruritic effect.1) Using this model, namely compound 48/80-induced scratching behavior in ddY-mice, several herb medicines whose antipruritic effect was expected from various herbal literature were screened. Among them, Kochiae Fructus (dried fruits of Kochia scoparia L.) and Cnidii Monnieri Fructus (dried fruits of Cnidium monnieri CUSSON) were found to exhibit an antipruritic effect. Momordin Ic, an oleanane-type saponin, isolated from Kochiae Fructus was ascertained to be one of the active components. 1)Recently, Basnet et al.2) reported that a mixture of coumarin derivatives obtained from Cnidii Monnieri Fructus exhibited an antipruritic action on substance P-induced itching model ICR mice. However, inhibition of compound 48/80-induced scratching behavior in ddY mice by 70% ethanol extract (CM-ext) of Cnidii Monnieri Fructus has not been investigated in detail. The object of this report 3) is to examine the antipruritic components of CM-ext using compound 48/80-induced itching model mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS Plant Material Cnidii Monnieri Fructus (dried fruits ofCnidium monnieri CUSSON produced in China) was purchased from Yamada Yakken Co., Ltd. Pharmacy (Osaka) in 1999. A voucher specimen has been deposited at Kinki University, Osaka, (voucher number: CM-99001).Preparation of CM-ext from Cnidii Monnieri Fructus The crushed fruits (500 g) of Cnidium monnieri were extracted twice with 70% EtOH (5 l each) under reflux for 1 h. The combined filtrates were concentrated under reduced pressure and lyophilized to give a brown powder (CM-ext) (73.7 g, yield; 14.7%).Fractionation of CM-ext and Isolation of Osthol (1), Imperatorin (2), and Isopimpinellin (3) Melting points were determined on a Yanagimoto micro melting point apparatus without correction. All chemical reagents were reagent grade and were purchased from Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd. (Osaka), unless otherwise noted. The CM-ext (53.7 g) was suspended in water and then extracted successively with hexane, EtOAc, and 1-BuOH. After solvent extraction, the aqueous layer was concentrated under reduced pressure and lyophilized to afford an aqueous soluble fraction (26.7 g) (Chart 1). The hexane extract was dried over Na 2 SO 4 and concentrated. The resulting crystalline precipitate (2.47 g) was collected by filtration, and its mother liquor was concentrated to give a hexane soluble fraction (3.9 g). The EtOAc extract was dried over Na 2 SO 4 and concentrated to give an EtOAc soluble fraction (9.9 g). The 1-BuOH extract was concentrated to give a 1-BuOH soluble fraction (3.9 g). Antipruritic activity of each fraction was assayed by...

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Esophageal cancer is known as one of the malignant cancers with poor prognosis. To improve the outcome, combined multimodality treatment is attempted. On the other hand, advances in genomics and other “omic” technologies are paving way to the patient-oriented treatment called “personalized” or “precision” medicine. Recent advancements of imaging techniques such as functional imaging make it possible to use imaging features as biomarker for diagnosis, treatment response, and prognosis in cancer treatment. In this review, we will discuss how we can use imaging derived tumor features as biomarker for the treatment of esophageal cancer.