Chinese Herbal Medicine as an Adjunctive Therapy for Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

Abstract

Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been widely used as an adjunctive therapy for breast cancer, while its efficacy remains unexplored. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of CHM combined with chemotherapy for breast cancer. The study results showed that CHM combined with chemotherapy significantly increased tumor response and KPS as compared to using chemotherapy alone (RR = 1.36; 95% CI = 1.24–1.48; P < 0.00001; RR = 1.38; 95% CI = 1.26–1.52; P < 0.00001, resp.). Besides, CHM as an adjunctive therapy significantly reduced the nausea and vomiting at toxicity grade of III–IV (RR = 0.37; 95% CI = 0.27–0.52; P < 0.00001). Moreover, the combined therapy significantly prevented the decline of WBC in patients under chemotherapy at toxicity grade of III–IV (RR = 0.49; 95% CI = 0.34–0.69; P < 0.00001) and prevented the decline of platelet at toxicity grade of III–IV or I–IV (RR = 0.29; 95% CI = 0.12–0.73; P = 0.008; RR = 0.77; 95% CI = 0.63–0.94; P = 0.009, resp.). This study suggests that CHM combined with chemotherapy in comparison with chemotherapy alone can significantly enhance tumor response, improve KPS, and alleviate toxicity induced by chemotherapy in breast cancer patients. However, a firm conclusion could not be reached due to the lack of high quality trials and large-scale RCTs, so further trials with higher quality and larger scale are needed.

WD-3 inhibits the proliferation of breast cancer cells by regulating the glycolytic pathway

“…Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been widely used as an alternative therapy for breast cancer. Some TCM treatments can significantly improve the quality of life and overall survival of breast cancer patients [3][4][5]. TCM is related to the unity and integrity of the human body and its relationship with nature.…”

<p>Baicalin Inhibits Cell Viability, Migration and Invasion in Breast Cancer by Regulating miR-338-3p and MORC4</p>

“…The Chinese herbal medicines have been regarded as promising adjuvant therapy for patients with BC. 8 Baicalin is a benzylisoquinoline alkaloid from Chinese herbal medicine Scutellaria lateriflora Georgi and its structure is exhibited as previous study, 9 which has been demonstrated to play anti-proliferation, anti-inflammatory and antimetastatic roles in human cancers or diseases. 4, More importantly, previous study suggests that baicalin could inhibit BC development in vitro and in vivo.…”

Wenshen Zhuanggu formula effectively suppresses breast cancer bone metastases in a mouse Xenograft model

“…In China, the combination of modern western therapies and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a common approach to treat breast cancer with bone metastases. As an important complementary therapy, Chinese herbal medicine can effectively resolve breast lumps, alleviate bone pain, minimize the adverse events of chemotherapy, and improve the overall health and well-being of cancer patients [4] .…”