4. Discussion

Accumulating researches have demonstrated that Chinese medicine is a promising substitute for therapy of liver cancer. Furthermore, increasing scholars starts to pay attention to clinical studies of Chinese medicine. For example, gambogic acid (GA), a naturally occurring compound from ancient China, has been demonstrated efficient antineoplastic activity in a number of malignancies. More importantly, it has entered phase II clinical trials. A team ?found GA might lead to oxidative stress and subsequently induce apoptosis in hepatoma cells through interacting with TrxR1. Thus, targeting TrxR1 by GA disclosed a previously unrecognized mechanism underlying the biological action of GA and provides useful information for further development of GA as a potential agent for cancer therapy [96]. On the other hand, the theory of "Jianpi Huayu Therapy" (JPHY) was rooted from "Jin Kui Yao Lue." According to the selection criteria, Zhong et al. recruited a total of 120 patients in a randomized trial, aiming to compare the curative outcome and safety profile of surgery in combination with "Jianpi Huayu Therapy" HCC treatment to surgery alone. The patients in treatment group received the basic prescription based on JPHY. The results showed that hepatectomy combined with JPHY was more effective with reducing postoperative metastasis and recurrence and prolonged overall survival of HCC patients [97]. JQ1, one of the bromodomain and extra-terminal domain (BET) inhibitors, has been emerged as a novel agent candidate for cancer treatment in clinical research. Nevertheless, a number of solid cancers are resistant to BET inhibitors. The results from a group showed that oridonin synergistically increased JQ1 capacity of inhibiting HCC cell survival, and considerably enhanced JQ1 caused apoptosis in HCC cells and in HCC cancer stem-like cells. Furthermore, they demonstrated that oridonin distinctly augmented the sensitivity of JQ1 via downregulation of the level of multiple antiapoptotic proteins, including Bcl-2, Mcl-1, and x-linked inhibitor of apoptosis, suggesting that the combination treatment of JQ1 and oridonin could be further pursued for clinical application and it was expected to provide a rational for HCC tumor prevention [98].

Collectively, the aforementioned findings showed the potential efficacy of Chinese medicine on numerous types of cancer, either alone or in combination with conventional treatment of method such as surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation. In particular, as stated above, when integrated with chemotherapy or radiotherapy, Chinese medicine may serve as complementary drugs strongly enhancing the positive effects or reducing the negative events induced by radiochemotherapy. However, in comparison with a great deal of laboratory researches, clinical trials still remain poor, which limits the wide application of Chinese medicine throughout the world.
