Traditional Chinese medicine as adjunctive therapy improves the long-term survival of lung cancer patients

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Abstract

<p class="first" id="d1036630e168">Traditional Chinese medicine is one of the popular alternative treatments for cancer, mainly enhancing host immune response and reducing adverse effect of chemotherapy. This study first explored traditional Chinese medicine treatment effect on long-term survival of lung cancer patients. </p>

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Three advantages of using traditional Chinese medicine to prevent and treat tumor.

Chang-quan Ling, Yu-Chen Ling, QIANG YUE (2014)

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), an important component of complementary and alternative medicine, has evolved over thousands of years with its own unique system of theories, diagnostics and therapies. TCM has been increasingly used in the last decades and become well known for its significant role in preventing and treating cancer. We believe that TCM possesses advantages over Western medicine in specific aspects at a certain stage of cancer treatment. Here we summarize the advantages of TCM from three aspects: preventing tumorigenesis; attenuating toxicity and enhancing the treatment effect; and reducing tumor recurrence and metastasis.

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The ethanol extract of Scutellaria baicalensis and the active compounds induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis including upregulation of p53 and Bax in human lung cancer cells.

Alberto Medina, Ann Morgan, Olivia Corcoran … (2011)

Despite a lack of scientific authentication, Scutellaria baicalensis is clinically used in Chinese medicine as a traditional adjuvant to chemotherapy of lung cancer. In this study, cytotoxicity assays demonstrated that crude ethanolic extracts of S. baicalensis were selectively toxic to human lung cancer cell lines A549, SK-LU-1 and SK-MES-1 compared with normal human lung fibroblasts. The active compounds baicalin, baicalein and wogonin did not exhibit such selectivity. Following exposure to the crude extracts, cellular protein expression in the cancer cell lines was assessed using 2D gel electrophoresis coupled with MALDI-TOF-MS/Protein Fingerprinting. The altered protein expression indicated that cell growth arrest and apoptosis were potential mechanisms of cytotoxicity. These observations were supported by PI staining cell cycle analysis using flow cytometry and Annexin-V apoptotic analysis by fluorescence microscopy of cancer cells treated with the crude extract and pure active compounds. Moreover, specific immunoblotting identification showed the decreased expression of cyclin A results in the S phase arrest of A549 whereas the G(0)/G(1) phase arrest in SK-MES-1 cells results from the decreased expression of cyclin D1. Following treatment, increased expression in the cancer cells of key proteins related to the enhancement of apoptosis was observed for p53 and Bax. These results provide further insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying the clinical use of this herb as an adjuvant to lung cancer therapy. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Evidence-based Chinese medicine for cancer therapy.

Thomas Efferth, B Konkimalla (2008)

In contrast to western medicine (WM), traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) does not focus on a single target but on multiple targets involved in a particular disease condition by applying diverse modalities, such as herbal medicine, acupuncture, moxibustion, etc. There is no pre-determined treatment procedure in TCM, and every patient condition is handled individually. Such patient-tailored treatments have a millennia-old tradition in TCM. Illustrative examples of the power of TCM have been documented in cancer research, i.e., camptothecin, homoharringtonine, or arsenic trioxide. On the other hand, one major reason for reluctance of western academia towards TCM is due to the lack of clinical studies of TCM receipts. This situation is changing very recently, and a number of clinical studies were conducted on TCM providing convincing evidence for the first time to gain credibility and reputation outside China. Clinical trials with TCM remedies focus on three major fields in cancer research: (1) improvement of poor treatment response rates towards standard chemo- and radiotherapy, (2) reduction of severe adverse effects of standard cancer therapy, and (3) unwanted interactions of standard therapy with herbal medicines. Efficacy and safety of TCM treatments depend on the quality of TCM products. Appropriate quality assurance and control of TCM products as well as sustainable production methods are pre-conditions for the implementation of TCM in cancer therapy at an international level. In conclusion, the most important question for recognition and implementation of TCM into WM concerns the clinical evidence for the efficacy of TCM and international quality standards for TCM products.