The American journal of Chinese medicine
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Meta Analysis
Compound Danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza) dripping pill for coronary heart disease: an overview of systematic reviews.
Compound Danshen dripping pill (CDDP) is commonly used to treat coronary heart disease (CHD) in China. However, clinical practice has not been informed by evidence from relevant systematic reviews (SRs). This overview aims at summarizing evidence from SRs on CDDP for the treatment of CHD. ⋯ Moreover, the overall quality of evidence in the SRs was poor, ranging from "very low" to "moderate", and most of the included SRs were of "low" (3/13, 23.1%) or "moderate" (9/13, 69.2%) quality with many serious flaws. Current SRs suggested potential benefits of CDDP for the treatment of CHD. However, high-quality evidence is warranted to support the application of CDDP in treating CHD.
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Bladder cancer is a common malignancy worldwide. However, there is still no effective therapy for bladder cancer. In this study, we investigated the cytotoxic effects of cantharidin [a natural toxin produced (pure compound) from Chinese blister beetles (Mylabrisphalerata or Mylabriscichorii) and Spanish flies (Cantharis vesicatoria)] in human bladder cancer cell lines (including: T24 and RT4 cells). ⋯ Importantly, cantharidin significantly decreased the tumor volume (a dramatic 71% reduction after 21 days of treatment) in nude mice xenografted with T24 cells. Taken together, these results indicate cantharidin induced human bladder cancer cell apoptosis through a calcium/PKC-regulated ER stress pathway. These findings suggest that cantharidin may be a novel and potential anticancer agent targeting on bladder cancer cells.
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Cucurbitacins are highly oxidized tetracyclic triterpenoids that are widely present in traditional Chinese medicines (Cucurbitaceae family), possess strong anticancer activity, and are divided into 12 classes from A to T with over 200 derivatives. The eight most active cucurbitacin components against cancer are cucurbitacin B, D, E, I, IIa, L glucoside, Q, and R. Their mechanisms of action include antiproliferation, inhibition of migration and invasion, proapoptosis, and cell cycle arrest promotion. ⋯ Recently, new studies have discovered synergistic anticancer effects by using cucurbitacins together with clinically approved chemotherapeutic drugs, such as docetaxel and methotrexate. This paper provides a summary of recent research progress on the anticancer property of cucurbitacins and the various intracellular signaling pathways involved in the regulation of cancer cell proliferation, death, invasion, and migration. Therefore, cucurbitacins are a class of promising anticancer drugs to be used alone or be intergraded in current chemotherapies and radiotherapies to treat many types of cancers.
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Meta Analysis
Danhong injection in the treatment of acute coronary syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of Danhong injection (DH) in treating acute coronary syndrome (ACS), randomized controlled trials (RCTs) regarding ACS treated by DH were searched in Chinese and English electronic databases from inception until June 2013. Two reviewers independently retrieved RCTs and extracted information. The Cochrane risk of bias method was used to assess the quality of the included studies, and a meta-analysis was conducted with Review Manager 5.2 software. ⋯ There were no adverse drug reactions (ADR) reported in the experimental group, while one case occurred in the control group. Based on the systematic review, DH combined with WM was effective in the treatment of ACS. However, the safety of DH in the treatment of ACS should be further carefully interpreted by more large-scale and double-blind RCTs.
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Solanum lyratum (SLEC) Thunberg (Solanaceae) has been used as a traditional herbal medicine in China for centuries. Numerous studies have shown that SLEC Thunberg (Solanaceae) extract inhibited cancer cell growth in vitro. Herein, we investigated cell death-induced by EcoAc, water, chloroform, butanol extract of SLEC in human oral cancer cell lines (HSC-3, SAS, and CAL-27) in vitro. ⋯ SLEC promoted the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and Ca²⁺, decreased the mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm) and stimulated NO production in HSC-3, SAS, and CAL-27 cells. Specific caspase inhibitors (caspase-8 inhibitor: Z-IETD-FMK; caspase-9 inhibitor: Z-LEHD-FMK and caspase-3 inhibitor: Z-DEVD-FMK) for caspase-8, -9, and -3 blocked SLE-activated caspase-8, -9, and -3 activities which were associated with an increase in the percentage of viable cells. Taken together, SLE induced G0/G1 arrest and apoptosis via extrinsic- and intrinsic-dependent pathways in HSC-3, SAS, and CAL-27 cells.