Jianpi Bushen Recipe affects epithelial-mesenchymal transition in hepatocellular carcinoma through TGF-β and Twist

Backgroud:To explore the effects of Jianpi Bushen Recipe on the epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT)of nude mice with transplanted human liver cancer SK-HEP-1 cells.Methods:To establish models with transplanted liver cancer cells,nude mice were divided randomly into three groups:blank group,traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)group and control group.They were given normal saline,Jianpi Bushen Recipe and solafeni through administration by gavage for four weeks.The expression of TGF-β and twist mRNA were detected by real-time PCR.The expression of E-cadherin was detected by Western blot.Results:Compared with the blank group,the expression of transforming growth factor-P(TGF-β)mRNA and twist mRNA in the TCM group and the control group decreased significantly(P<0.05).There was no significant difference between the two groups(P>0.05).The expression of E-cadherin protein in TCM group and control group increased significantly(P<0.01).There was no significant difference between the two groups(P>0.05).Conclusion:Jianpi Bushen Recipe can inhibit the EMT of liver cancer SK-HEP-1 cells in vivo by down-regulating the expression of TGF-β/twist signaling and indirectly up-regulating E-cadherin expression in transplanted liver cancer tissue,indicating the potential of Jianpi Bushen Recipe to inhibit invasion and metastasis of liver cancer.

Chemotherapy in conjunction with traditional Chinese medicine for survival of elderly patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer:protocol for a randomized double-blind controlled trial

BACKGROUND： Traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） is considered an important complementary therapy with beneficial effects for cancer patients. Elderly patients with non-small-cell lung cancer （NSCLC） are a complex patient group with increasing co-morbidity and shrinking physiological reserve, and may derive substantial benefit from the supportive aspects of TCM Researchers from Shanghai Longhua Hospital found that qi and yin deficiency is a common syndrome in patients with stage III or IV lung cancer. This project was designed to study the combination of single-agent chemotherapy with TCM methods of benefiting qi and yin in elderly patients with advanced NSCLC. METHODS AND DESIGN： This is a double-blind controlled, multi-center, and prospective study with randomly selected participants from elderly NSCLC patients in China. Seventy-six patients who meet the inclusion criteria will be allocated into two groups, which will receive treatments of 3-week single-agent chemotherapy with TCM or placebo for four cycles Progression-free survival （PFS） is the primary end point, and the secondary end points are overall survival, objective response rate, time-to-progression, and quality of life （EORTC QLQ-LC43, and TCM syndrome score） Meanwhile, other end points such as toxicity, side effects and safety of the treatments will be assessed. DISCUSSION： Results from this study may provide evidence on the effectiveness, and parameters for the usage of single-agent chemotherapy combined with or without TCM on PFS of elderly patients with NSCLC.