[The distribution of Chinese medicine syndrome types in primary liver cancer and their differences of the survival time: a clinical study].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the distribution of Chinese medicine (CM) syndrome types in primary liver cancer (PLC) and their differences of the survival time. METHODS: From May 2007 to March 2009, recruited were 151 PLC inpatients at Department of Tumor, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Their survival time were statistically calculated. Patients' average survival time and median survival time were calculated using Kaplan-Meier method. The Log-rank test was used to analyze their differences of survival time among different CM syndrome types. RESULTS: The proportion of CM syndrome types in PLC patients were ranked from high to low as follows: mutual accumulation of dampness and blood stasis syndrome [MADBSS, 43.0% (65/151)], Gan-stagnation Pi-deficiency syndrome [GSPDS, 34.4% (52/151)], qi stagnation blood stasis syndrome [QSBSS, 9.3% (14/151)], retention of damp-heat syndrome [RDHS, 8.6%(13/151)], and Gan-Shen yin deficiency syndrome [GSYDS, 4.6% (7/ 151)]. The median survival time of different CM syndrome types were ranked from longer to shorter as follows: GSPDS (14.77 months), QSBSS (6.13 months), RDHS (5.27 months), MADBSS (4.78 months), and GSYDS (0.80 months). The mean survival times were ranked from longer to shorter as follows: GSPDS (12.40 months), QSBSS (8.84 months), MADBSS (6.99 months), RDHS (7.08 months), and GSYDS (0.72 months). There was statistical difference in the difference of the survival time among different CM syndrome types (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: GSPDS and MADBSS were the most common CM syndrome types in PLC patients. There was difference in the survival time between GSPDS and MADBSS/between RDHS and GSYDS. There was difference in the survival time between MADBSS and GSYDS. Patients of GSPDS might get the best prognosis, while patients of GSYDS might get the poorest prognosis.

The role of E3 ubiquitin ligase Cbl proteins in ß-elemene reversing multi-drug resistance of human gastric adenocarcinoma cells.

Recent studies indicate that ß-elemene, a compound isolated from the Chinese herbal medicine Curcuma wenyujin, is capable of reversing tumor MDR, although the mechanism remains elusive. In this study, ß-Elemene treatment markedly increased the intracellular accumulation of doxorubicin (DOX) and rhodamine 123 in both K562/DNR and SGC7901/ADR cells and significantly inhibited the expression of P-gp. Treatment of SGC7901/ADR cells with ß-elemene led to downregulation of Akt phosphorylation and significant upregulation of the E3 ubiquitin ligases, c-Cbl and Cbl-b. Importantly, ß-elemene significantly enhanced the anti-tumor activity of DOX in nude mice bearing SGC7901/ADR xenografts. Taken together, our results suggest that ß-elemene may target P-gp-overexpressing leukemia and gastric cancer cells to enhance the efficacy of DOX treatment.

ß-Elemene induces apoptosis as well as protective autophagy in human non-small-cell lung cancer A549 cells.

OBJECTIVES: ß-Elemene, a novel traditional Chinese medicine, has been shown to be effective against a wide range of tumours. In this study, the antitumour effect of ß-elemene on human non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) A549 cells and the mechanism involved have been investigated. METHODS: Cell viability and apoptosis were measured by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Protein expression was assayed by Western blotting. Autophagy was evaluated under fluorescence microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. KEY FINDINGS: ß-Elemene inhibited the viability of A549 cells in a dose-dependent manner. This suppression of cell viability was due to the induction of apoptosis. Further study showed that ß-elemene inhibited the activity of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR/p70S6K1 signalling pathway, and at the same time it triggered a robust autophagy. The autophagy was characterized by the accumulation of punctate LC3 dots in the cytoplasm, morphological changes, and the increased levels of LC3-II as well as Atg5-Atg12 conjugated proteins. Inhibition of autophagy with chlorochine significantly enhanced the antitumour effect of ß-elemene. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicated that ß-elemene inhibited the activity of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR/p70S6K1 signalling pathway in human NSCLC A549 cells, which resulted in apoptosis as well as protective autophagy. A combination of ß-elemene with autophagy inhibitor might be an effective therapeutic option for advanced NSCLC.

[Clinical trial and evaluation on comprehensive treatment on attack in acute stage: report of 522 cases].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical effect of the comprehensive treatment to acute stage of attack. METHODS: On the basis of the previous observation, the study of the randomization control with general treatment, treatment on acupuncture and western medical treatment were carried out. A comprehensive treatment on overall traditional Chinese medical differentiation according to the superiority of every treatment was assessed and evaluated in 522 patients with attack. RESULTS: The comprehensive treatment of cerebral infarction was superior to the western medicine treatment. General treatment, treatment on traditional Chinese medical differentiation, acupuncture group revealed different improvement on neural function, daily viability, cognitive function in various extent. CONCLUSION: The comprehensive treatment that based on overall traditional Chinese medical differentiation has advantage and characteristic. It has positive combined action to the attack and relevant to clinical setting, easier to popularization and application. Various appraising amount form has different evaluating effects in different stage.

[Clinical observation on the efficacy enhancing and toxicity attenuating effect of nuzhen yangyin granule to the anti-parkinsonism therapy mainly with Medopa].

OBJECTIVE: To observe and assess the efficacy enhancing and toxicity attenuating effect of Nuzhen Yangyin Granule (NYG) to the anti-parkinsonism (paralysis agitans) therapy with Medopa and Artane. METHODS: Adopting the randomized double-blinded method, the effect of adding NYG to 30 patients with Parkinsonism in the treated group, who already received anti-Parkinsonism treatment but showing decreased response to Medopa and Artane and with obvious adverse reaction, was observed and controlled by 30 patients treated by adding placebo. RESULTS: The total effective rate in the treated group and the control group was 86.7% and 56.7% respectively, the total syndrome improving rate was 90% and 56.7% respectively and the toxicity attenuating rate 90% and 43.3% respectively, comparison between the two groups showed significant difference (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). NYG also showed markedly effective in reducing the adverse reactions of Medopa and Artane on digestive, neuro-psychiatric and cardiovascular system. CONCLUSION: NYG has obvious efficacy enhancing and toxicity attenuating effects caused by the anti-Parkinsonism treatment with Medopa and Artane.