Lessons Learnt from Evidence-Based Approach of Using Chinese Herbal Medicines in Liver Cancer

Table 1

Preclinical studies of CHM in liver cancer.

Name	Composition	Biological action	Preclinical study
Bufalin [14]	Secretia bufonis	Anticancer	Inhibited growth of tumor in in situ transplantation tumor model of nude mice; Prolonged survival time of hepatoma bearing mice; Induced apoptosis through regulating expression of apoptosis-related gene bax and the ratio of bcl-2/bax in situ hepatoma transplantation model and apoptotic characteristics determined by ultrastructure observation
Kanglaite injection [15, 16]	Semen Coicis	Anticancer	Prohibited growth of transplant hepatoma in rats by intra-tumor injection; Inhibited expression of PCNA of transplanted hepatoma in rats; Reduced liver toxicity compared to ethanol therapy; Induced apoptosis in cancer cell through activation of the Fas/FasL pathway
Banzhilian [17]	Scutellaria barbate D. Don	Anticancer,; Immune modulation	Inhibited growth of tumors in hepatoma bearing mice; Improved phagocytic function of macrophages determined by chicken-red cell phagocytic rate; Inhibited proliferation of cancer cells in vitro; Induced apoptosis determined by ultrastructure observation of apoptotic cancer cells
PHY906 [18]	Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi,  Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch,  Paeonia lactiflora Pall,  Ziziphus jujube Mill	Anticancer	Inhibiting growth of tumors in mice bearing human HepG2 tumor and enhancement of chemotherapeutic efficacy when combined with anticancer agents such as CPT-11, capecitabine, doxorubicin, and thalidomide
Ganfujian granule [19]	Rhizoma Dioscoreae,  Fructus Crataegi,  Fructus Ziziphi Jujubae,  etc.	Anticancer	Reduced and delayed the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma in rats; Prolonged survival time of tumor bearing rats; Affected process of cancer cell cycle through suppressing overexpression of related modulators