Evidence-Based Dampness-Heat ZHENG (Syndrome) in Cancer: Current Progress toward Establishing Relevant Animal Model with Pancreatic Tumor / 中国结合医学杂志

Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases affecting the health of human beings. With limited therapeutic options available, complementary and alternative medicine has been widely adopted in cancer management and is increasingly becoming accepted by both patients and healthcare workers alike. Chinese medicine characterized by its unique diagnostic and treatment system is the most widely applied complementary and alternative medicine. It emphasizes symptoms and ZHENG (syndrome)-based treatment combined with contemporary disease diagnosis and further stratifies patients into individualized medicine subgroups. As a representative cancer with the highest degree of malignancy, pancreatic cancer is traditionally classified into the "amassment and accumulation". Emerging perspectives define the core pathogenesis of pancreatic cancer as "dampness-heat" and the respective treatment "clearing heat and resolving dampness" has been demonstrated to prolong survival in pancreatic cancer patients, as has been observed in many other cancers. This clinical advantage encourages an exploration of the essence of dampness-heat ZHENG (DHZ) in cancer and investigation into underlying mechanisms of action of herbal formulations against dampness-heat. However, at present, there is a lack of understanding of the molecular characteristics of DHZ in cancer and no standardized and widely accepted animal model to study this core syndrome in vivo. The shortage of animal models limits the ability to uncover the antitumor mechanisms of herbal medicines and to assess the safety profile of the natural products derived from them. This review summarizes the current research on DHZ in cancer in terms of the clinical aspects, molecular landscape, and animal models. This study aims to provide comprehensive insight that can be used for the establishment of a future standardized ZHENG-based cancer animal model.

Overview of research projects funding in traditional Chinese medicine oncology field supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China / 中国中药杂志

In this paper, the funding situation of traditional Chinese medicine oncology research projects supported by National Natural Science Fund from 1986-2016 was reviewed. The characteristics of funded projects were summarized from funding amount, funding expenses, funding category, and the main research contents of projects, etc. At the same time, the main problems in the projects were analyzed in this paper, in order to provide reference for the relevant fund applicants.

Effects on the pancreatic orthotopic transplantation tumor in nude mice by different Chinese medicine therapeutic methods / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare different Chinese medicine (CM) therapeutic methods on the pancreatic orthotopic transplantation tumors in nude mice, and to explore their features.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The pancreatic orthotopic transplantation tumor model was established. Sixty nude mice were randomly divided into four group, i. e., the blood circulation activating and stasis resolving group, the heat clearing and dampness removing group, the Pi-strengthening and qi-regulating group, the phlegm reducing and mass resolving group, the normal control 1 group, and the normal control 2 group, 10 in each group. 0.2 mL corresponding CM decoction or normal saline was respectively administered to each group by gastrogavage, once daily, for totally 28 days. The body weight, the tumor weight, and the tumor inhibition ratio were observed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The tumor inhibition ratio was 42.69% in the heat clearing and dampness removing group, 31.24% in the blood circulation activating and stasis resolving group, 2.11% in the Pi-strengthening and qi-regulating group, and -12.95% in the phlegm reducing and mass resolving group. There was statistical difference in the tumor weight between the heat clearing and dampness removing group and the normal control 1 group (g, 0.51 +/- 0.28 vs 0.90 +/- 0.25, P < 0.05). There was no statistical difference in the body weight change between the two groups (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The CM pathogenesis of pancreatic carcinoma may possibly due to the accumulation of dampness and heat, or the accumulation of dampness, heat, and toxicity. Clearing heat and removing dampness may be the basic principle for its treatment.</p>