Effect of Cantharidins in Chemotherapy for Hepatoma: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of cantharidins, a traditional Chinese medicine, in chemotherapy for the treatment of hepatoma. From August 2011 to December 2012, 96 patients with hepatoma, who were eligible for transcatheter hepatic arterial chemoembolization and received cantharidins, were selected for comparison with the control group of 95 patients without cantharidins. The treatment effect, clinical symptoms and adverse effects were analyzed. The results of the study showed that the cantharidins group had a higher overall efficient rate than the control group (p < 0.001). The improvement rate of the Karnofsky score in the cantharidins group was significantly higher than that of the control group (p = 0.014). In the cantharidins group, there was a decrease in white blood cell (WBC) count and gastrointestinal response rates were lower than those of the control group (p < 0.05). Therefore, the traditional Chinese medicine cantharidins showed effects of easing the progress of liver cancer, relieving side effects of chemotherapy and improving the quality of life in the treatment of hepatoma.

Cantharidin-induced liver injuries in mice and the protective effect of vitamin C supplementation

“…Cantharidin has the pronounced adverse effects when used medically as an antineoplastic, because of the potential hepatotoxicity [15]. In this study, cantharidin-treated mice resulted in body weight loss and liver expansion, implying that the mice might have been sick and stopped drinking during the course of cantharidin-induced hepatic impairments.…”

Cantharidin Overcomes Imatinib Resistance by Depleting BCR-ABL in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

“…Recently, CTD and its derivatives have shown a strong anti-tumor activity against the cells of various cancers (Huang et al, 2011; Kuo et al, 2011; Li et al, 2010; 2011a; 2011b; Shou et al, 2013; Su et al, 2015; Zhang et al, 2014). It has been shown that CTD induced G2/M cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human pancreatic cancer cells, melanoma cells, and colorectal cancer cells (Hsiao et al, 2014; Huang et al, 2011; Li et al, 2010).…”

“…A collective body of work from different groups has shown that CTD has strong anti-tumor effects in a wide range of tumor types, such as bladder cancer, colorectal cancer, hepatoma, pancreatic cancer, and breast cancer (Huang et al, 2011; Kuo et al, 2011; Li et al, 2010; 2011a; 2011b; Shou et al, 2013; Su et al, 2015; Zhang et al, 2014). It has been demonstrated that CTD blocks cell cycle at G2/M phase through multiple mechanisms.…”

Traditional Chinese medicine combined with other therapies for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma in clinical trials

“…TCM can also alleviate the adverse reaction of combined chemotherapeutic agents and promote the recovery of liver function in patients [74,75]. Secondly, TCM can significantly inhibit liver tumor growth and angiogenesis [76,77], while restraining the progress of liver cancer [78,79]. Thirdly, TCM can promote the immune response and improve the QOL of the patient by protecting life functions [74,80], and then prolong survival of patients and improve the prognosis of patients with unrespectable HCC [70,[81][82][83].…”