Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
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
Core Tip

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.