Xu AX, Zhao ZF, Zhu L, Zhang YH, Li Y, Wei YF, Zhang BY, Jiang B, Gao TZ, Li MS, Liu JY. Promise and challenges of traditional Chinese medicine, specifically Calculus bovis, in liver cancer treatment. World J Gastroenterol 2024; 30(40): 4380-4385 [DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i40.4380]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Jia-Yu Liu, MD, PhD, Attending Doctor, Department of Neurosurgery, First Medical Centre of Chinese PLA General Hospital, No. 28 Fuxing Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100853, China. liujiayu@pku.edu.cn
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Letter to the Editor
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 28, 2024; 30(40): 4380-4385 Published online Oct 28, 2024. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i40.4380
Promise and challenges of traditional Chinese medicine, specifically Calculus bovis, in liver cancer treatment
Ao-Xi Xu, Zhi-Feng Zhao, Li Zhu, Yi-Heng Zhang, Yan Li, Yu-Fan Wei, Bo-Ya Zhang, Bin Jiang, Tian-Ze Gao, Meng-Si Li, Jia-Yu Liu
Ao-Xi Xu, Yu-Fan Wei, Bo-Ya Zhang, Bin Jiang, Tian-Ze Gao, School of Medicine, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
Ao-Xi Xu, Li Zhu, Yi-Heng Zhang, Yan Li, Department of General Surgery, The First Medical Center of Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China
Ao-Xi Xu, Zhi-Feng Zhao, Yi-Heng Zhang, Medical School of Chinese People's Liberation Army, Medical School of Chinese People's Liberation Army, Beijing 100853, China
Zhi-Feng Zhao, Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreative Surgery, The First Medical Center, Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China
Meng-Si Li, Department of Surgery, Mancheng District People's Hospital, Baoding 072150, Hebei Province, China
Jia-Yu Liu, Department of Neurosurgery, First Medical Centre of Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China
Author contributions: Xu AX, Liu JY and Zhao ZF conceived and designed the topic of the article; Zhu L, Zhang YH, Li Y, Wei YF, Zhang BY, Jiang B, Gao TZ and Li MS collected relative data and materials; Xu AX and Zhao ZF contributed to drafting of the article; Liu JY contributed to critical revision of the article for important intellectual content and final approval of the article.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jia-Yu Liu, MD, PhD, Attending Doctor, Department of Neurosurgery, First Medical Centre of Chinese PLA General Hospital, No. 28 Fuxing Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100853, China. liujiayu@pku.edu.cn
Received: July 17, 2024 Revised: September 16, 2024 Accepted: September 26, 2024 Published online: October 28, 2024 Processing time: 90 Days and 14.1 Hours
Abstract
Liver cancer, one of the most common malignancies worldwide, ranks sixth in incidence and third in mortality. Liver cancer treatment options are diverse, including surgical resection, liver transplantation, percutaneous ablation, transarterial chemoembolization, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). A multidisciplinary team (MDT) is essential to customize treatment plans based on tumor staging, liver function, and performance status (PS), ensuring individualized patient care. Treatment decisions require a MDT to tailor strategies based on tumor staging, liver function, and PS, ensuring personalized care. The approval of new first-line and second-line drugs and the establishment of standard treatments based on immune checkpoint inhibitors have significantly expanded treatment options for advanced liver cancer, improving overall prognosis. However, many patients do not respond effectively to these treatments and ultimately succumb to the disease. Modern oncology treatments, while extending patient survival, often come with severe side effects, resistance, and damage to the body, negatively impacting quality of life. Huang et al's study published at World Journal of Gastroenterology rigorously validates the anticancer properties of Calculus bovis, enhancing our understanding of TCM and contributing to new liver cancer treatment strategies. For over 5000 years, TCM has been used in East Asian countries like China to treat various diseases, including liver conditions. Analysis of real-world clinical data suggests that for patients with advanced-stage tumors lacking effective treatments, integrated TCM therapies could provide significant breakthroughs.
Core Tip: Huang et al discovered that Calculus bovis (CB) inhibits liver cancer growth by mediating the suppression of M2-TAM polarization through the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. This article highlights the current research, potential, and challenges of using traditional Chinese medicine, exemplified by CB, in liver cancer treatment, and points to future research directions.
