Chinese herbal medicine decreases incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma in diabetes mellitus patients with regular insulin management

BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes mellitus(DM)is an independent risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC),while insulin is a potent mitogen.Identifying a new therapeutic modality for preventing insulin users from developing HCC is a critical goal for researchers.AIM To investigate whether regular herbal medicine use can decrease HCC risk in DM patients with regular insulin control.METHODS We used data acquired from the Taiwan,Chinaese National Health Insurance research database between 2000 and 2017.We identified patients with DM who were prescribed insulin for>3 months.The herb user group was further defined as patients prescribed herbal medication for DM for>3 months per annum during RESULTS We initially enrolled 657144 DM patients with regular insulin use from 2000 to 2017.Among these,46849 patients had used a herbal treatment for DM,and 140547 patients were included as the matched control group.The baseline variables were similar between the herb users and nonusers.DM patients with regular herb use had a 12%decreased risk of HCC compared with the control group[adjusted hazard ratio(aHR)=0.88,95%CI=0.80–0.97].The cumulative incidence of HCC in the herb users was significantly lower than that of the nonusers.Patients with a herb use of>5 years cumulatively exhibited a protective effect against development of HCC(aHR=0.82,P<0.05).Of patients who developed HCC,herb users exhibited a longer survival time than nonusers(aHR=0.78,P=0.0001).Additionally,we report the top 10 herbs and formulas in prescriptions and summarize the potential pharmacological effects of the constituents.Our analysis indicated that Astragalus propinquus(Huang Qi)plus Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge(Dan Shen),and Astragalus propinquus(Huang Qi)plus Trichosanthes kirilowii Maxim.(Tian Hua Fen)were the most frequent combination of single herbs.Meanwhile,Ji Sheng Shen Qi Wan plus Dan Shen was the most frequent combination of herbs and formulas.CONCLUSION This large-scale retrospective cohort study reveals that herbal medicine may decrease HCC risk by 12%in DM patients with regular insulin use.

Roles of conventional and complementary therapies in recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)is the fifth most common type of cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the world.HCC has a reported recurrence rate of 70%-80%after 5 years of follow-up.Controlling tumor recurrence is the most critical factor associated with HCC mortality.Conventional salvage therapies for recurrent HCC include re-hepatectomy or liver transplantation,transcatheter arterial chemoembolization,Y-90,target therapy,and immunotherapy;however,these conventional treatment modalities have yet to achieve consistently favorable outcomes.Meanwhile,previous studies have demonstrated that conventional therapies in combination with traditional Chinese medicine(TCM),acupuncture,moxibustion or dietary supplements could notably benefit patients with HCC recurrence by strengthening and augmenting the overall management strategy.However,systemic reviews related to the interactions between complementary therapies and conventional therapy in recurrent HCC are limited.In this review,we discuss the molecular mechanisms underlying the functions of complementary therapies for recurrent HCC,which include augmenting the local control to improve the congestion status of primary tumors and reducing multicentric tumor occurrence via inducing autophagy,apoptosis or cell cycle arrest.TCM and its derivatives may play important roles in helping to control HCC recurrence by inhibiting epithelial-mesenchymal transition,migration,invasion,and metastasis,inhibiting cancer stem cells,and ameliorating drug resistance.

LipoCol Forte capsules reduce the risk of liver cancer:A propensity score-matched,nationwide,population-based cohort study

BACKGROUND Liver cancer is among the top five most common cancers globally. Lipid-lowering drugs such as statins can lower the risk of liver cancer, but may also cause liver damage. LipoCol Forte capsules(LFC), a red yeast rice product, have demonstrated significant antihypercholesterolemic effects and a good safety profile in clinical studies.AIM To evaluate whether LFC lowers the risk of liver cancer in adults in this propensity score-matched, nationwide, population-based cohort study.METHODS We used data from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database, which includes electronic medical records for up to 99.99% of Taiwan’s population. LFC users and LFC non-users were matched 1:1 by propensity scores between January 2010 and December 2017. All had followup data for at least 1 year. Statistical analyses compared demographic distributions including sex, age, comorbidities, and prescribed medications. Cox regression analyses estimated adjusted hazard ratios(aHRs) after adjusting for potential confounders.RESULTS We enrolled 33231 LFC users and 33231 non-LFC users(controls). No significant differences between the study cohorts were identified regarding comorbidities and medications [standardized mean difference(SMD) < 0.05]. At follow-up, the overall incidence of liver cancer was significantly lower in the LFC cohort compared with controls [aHR 0.91;95% confidence interval(CI): 0.86-0.95;P < 0.001]. The risk of liver cancer was significantly reduced in both females(aHR 0.87;95%CI: 0.8-0.94;P < 0.001) and males(aHR 0.93;95%CI: 0.87-0.98;P < 0.01) in the LFC cohort compared with their counterparts in the non-LFC cohort. The antitumor protective effects applied to patients with comorbidities(including hypertension, ischemic stroke, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, hepatitis B infection and hepatitis C infection). Those using LFC for more than 84 drug days had a 0.64-fold lower risk of liver cancer compared with controls(P < 0.001). Compared with controls, the risk of developing liver cancer in the LFC cohort progressively decreased over time;the lowest incidence of liver cancer occurred in LFC users followed-up for more than 6 years(27.44 vs 31.49 per 1,000 person-years;aHR 0.75;95%CI: 0.68-0.82;P < 0.001).CONCLUSION This retrospective cohort study indicates that LFC has a significantly protective effect on lowering the risk of liver cancer, in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner.