Du H, Chen HB, Zhao Y. Exploring a new chapter in traditional Chinese medicine: The potential of Calculus bovis in liver cancer treatment. World J Clin Oncol 2024; 15(12): 1520-1527 [DOI: 10.5306/wjco.v15.i12.1520]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Hong-Bin Chen, BM BCh, Chief Physician, Department of Gastroenterology I, Sanming First Hospital, Fujian Medical University, No. 29 Liedong Street, Sanyuan District, Sanming 365000, Fujian Province, China. smchb2008@qq.com
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
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 Clin Oncol. Dec 24, 2024; 15(12): 1520-1527 Published online Dec 24, 2024. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v15.i12.1520
Exploring a new chapter in traditional Chinese medicine: The potential of Calculus bovis in liver cancer treatment
Huang Du, Hong-Bin Chen, Yu Zhao
Huang Du, Department of Gastroenterology, Minqing County General Hospital, Fuzhou 350800, Fujian Province, China
Hong-Bin Chen, Department of Gastroenterology I, Sanming First Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Sanming 365000, Fujian Province, China
Yu Zhao, Department of Gastroenterology, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Straße 1, Hannover 30625, Lower Saxony, Germany
Co-first authors: Huang Du and Hong-Bin Chen.
Author contributions: Du H and Chen HB have contributed equally to this paper; Chen HB designed the overall concept and outlined of the manuscript; Du H contributed to the discussion and design of the manuscript; Du H, Zhao Y and Chen HB participated in writing, editing, and linguistic embellishment of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
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: Hong-Bin Chen, BM BCh, Chief Physician, Department of Gastroenterology I, Sanming First Hospital, Fujian Medical University, No. 29 Liedong Street, Sanyuan District, Sanming 365000, Fujian Province, China. smchb2008@qq.com
Received: July 23, 2024 Revised: September 19, 2024 Accepted: October 15, 2024 Published online: December 24, 2024 Processing time: 90 Days and 17.4 Hours
Abstract
In the ongoing quest for new treatments in medicine, traditional Chinese medicine offers unique insights and potential. Recently, studies on the ability of Calculus bovis to inhibit M2-type tumour-associated macrophage polarisation by modulating the Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway to suppress liver cancer have undoubtedly revealed new benefits and hope for this field of research. The purpose of this article is to comment on this study and explore its strengths and weaknesses, thereby providing ideas for the future treatment of liver cancer.
Core Tip: Calculus bovis (C. bovis) has shown remarkable potential in liver cancer treatment research. It was found to modulate the Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway and inhibit the polarisation of tumour-associated macrophages, thereby inhibiting liver cancer progression. These findings not only reveal the immunoregulatory mechanism of C. bovis but also provide a new strategy and theoretical basis for the treatment of liver cancer. However, since the specific anticancer components of C. bovis are not known, future studies should focus on the inhibition of the liver cancer pathway mediated by specific components of C. bovis to facilitate clinical advancements in liver cancer treatment.
