Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Feb 15, 2022; 14(2): 450-477
Published online Feb 15, 2022. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v14.i2.450
Frankincense myrrh attenuates hepatocellular carcinoma by regulating tumor blood vessel development through multiple epidermal growth factor receptor-mediated signaling pathways
Piao Zheng, Zhen Huang, Dong-Chang Tong, Qing Zhou, Sha Tian, Bo-Wei Chen, Di-Min Ning, Yin-Mei Guo, Wen-Hao Zhu, Yan Long, Wei Xiao, Zhe Deng, Yi-Chen Lei, Xue-Fei Tian
Piao Zheng, Zhen Huang, Dong-Chang Tong, Sha Tian, Di-Min Ning, Wen-Hao Zhu, Zhe Deng, Yi-Chen Lei, Xue-Fei Tian, College of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, Hunan Province, China
Piao Zheng, Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410011, Hunan Province, China
Qing Zhou, Bo-Wei Chen, Yan Long, The First Affiliated Hospital, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410021, Hunan Province, China
Yin-Mei Guo, Hunan Key Laboratory of Translational Research in Formulas and Zheng of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, Hunan Province, China
Wei Xiao, Institute of Integrative Medicine, Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410008, Hunan Province, China
Author contributions: Tian XF provided the conceptual and technical guidance, designed the study, and revised the manuscript critically for important intellectual content; Zheng P, Tian S and Zhou Q coordinated the study; Zheng P, Huang Z, Tong DC, Ning DM, Guo YM, Zhu WH, Long Y, Deng Z and Lei YC performed the experiments; Zheng P, Chen BW and Xiao W interpreted data; Zheng P wrote the manuscript; all authors approved the final version of the article.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. U20A20408 (Major Program) and No. 82074450 (General Program); Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province, No. 2020JJ4066; Hunan Province Research and innovation projects for Postgraduates, No. CX20190541; Hunan Province "domestic first-class cultivation discipline" Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western medicine open fund project, No. 2018ZXYJH03; Hunan University Undergraduate Research Learning and Innovative Experiment Project, No. 201609030114.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: This research was reviewed and approved by the Committee on the Ethics of Animal Experiments of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, No. LL2020102801. All animal experiments were conducted in accordance with international standards and under the guidelines for animal care and use formulated by the Animal Experiment Center of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no financial or commercial conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
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: Xue-Fei Tian, PhD, Professor, College of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, No. 300 Xueshi Road, Yuelu District, Changsha 410208, Hunan Province, China. 003640@hnucm.edu.cn
Received: July 22, 2021
Peer-review started: July 22, 2021
First decision: November 8, 2021
Revised: November 19, 2021
Accepted: January 14, 2022
Article in press: January 14, 2022
Published online: February 15, 2022
Processing time: 202 Days and 23.7 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a serious threat to human health, and its pathological process is closely related to blood vessels. Currently, powerful targeted drugs for HCC treatment are lacking. The discovery of new drugs is an urgent task. As a complementary and alternative therapy, traditional Chinese medicine has played an increasingly prominent role. This study introduces frankincense and myrrh derived from the classic anticancer Chinese patent medicine Xihuang Pill. Through prediction and verification, the findings confirmed that this frankincense and myrrh treatment targets tumor blood vessels through EGFR-activated PI3K/Akt and MAPK signaling pathways to exert anti-HCC effects. Frankincense and/or myrrh treatment might be a potential anti-HCC drug candidate.