Chinese Medicines as an Adjuvant Therapy for Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma during Transarterial Chemoembolization: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
Table 3
The top 10 most frequently used CMs of the included studies.
CM herb Latin name (Chinese Pinyin)
No.
TCM diagnosis
Pharmacological properties
Radix Astragali (Huang Qi)
35
Qi deficiency
(1) Suppresses the oncogenic transformation of cancer cells [86] (2) Induces apoptosis [87] (3) Induces macrophage, LAK and NK cell activity [88, 89] (4) Inhibits T-helper cell type 2 cytokines [89]
Poria Cocos (Fu Ling)
25
Dampness accumulation
(1) Induces apoptosis [90, 91] (2) Cytotoxicity against cancer cell lines [90] (3) Inhibits tumor angiogenesis [92]
(1) Induces apoptosis [100] (2) Activates macrophages, NK and LAK cells [101] (3) Downregulates TNF-, IL-6, and NF-B p65 expression [102]
Radix Codonopsis (Dang Shen)
18
Qi deficiency
(1) Inhibits cancer cells invasion and migration [103] (2) Enhances T cell, B cell, and macrophage production, and activates macrophages [104]
Semen Coicis (Yi Yi Ren)
15
Dampness accumulation
(1) Induces apoptosis [105] (2) Inhibits NF-B signaling and protein kinase C activity [106] (3) Stimulates T cell proliferation [107]
Herba Oldenlandia Diffusa (Bai Hua She She Cao)
14
Fire toxin
(1) Inhibits cancer cell proliferation and induces apoptosis [108, 109]
Radix Paeoniae Alba (Bai Shao)
13
Blood deficiency
(1) Inhibits angiogenesis and induces apoptosis [110, 111]
Rhizoma Curcumae (E Zhu)
12
Blood stagnation
(1) Inhibits cancer cell proliferation and angiogenesis, induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis [112] (2) Inhibits platelet aggregation [113]
CM: Chinese medicine; LAK: lymphokine activated killer; NF-B: nuclear factor kappa-light-chain enhancer of activated B cells; NK: natural killer; No.: number of studies; TCM: traditional Chinese medicine; TNF-: tumor necrosis factor-alpha; IL: interleukin.
