Malignant tumors are the major disease that cause serious damage to human health, and have been listed as the premier diseases which seriously threatened human health by World Health Organization (WHO). In recent years the development of antitumor drugs has been gradually transformed from cytotoxic drugs to improving the selectivity of drugs, overcoming multidrug resistance, development of new targeted drugs and low toxicity with high specificity drugs. Amygdalin is a natural product that owns antitumor activity, less side effects, widely sourced and relatively low priced. All these features make the amygdalin a promising antitumor drugs, if combined with conditional chemotherapy drugs, which can produce synergistic effect. In this paper, we summarized the pharmacological activity, toxicity and antitumor activity of amygdalin, mainly focused on the advanced research of amygdalin on its antitumor effects in recent years, providing new insights for the development of new anticancer drugs, new targets searching and natural antitumor mechanism investigations.

With unceasingly deep researches on tumor cytology and molecular biology in recent years, it has been recognized that tumor is not only the outcome of occurrence and progress of cell proliferative disorders and abnormal differentiation, but also closely related to abnormality of apoptosis. Since traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is easy to obtain and exhibits significant antitumor effects accompanied with less toxic and side effects, it has already become a hotspot for cancer researches. This article is to overview TCM's antitumor effects and to summarize the underlying molecular mechanisms.

Recent studies have found that triterpene acid type compounds has many effects including antiinflammatory, regulating blood sugar level, antiviral and antitumor activity. More importantly, triterpene acid type compounds has become one of the most popular topics recently because its selective toxic effects on cancer cells and harmless to normal cells at the same time. This review summarized the antitumor activity and the mechanism of triterpene acid type compounds, providing guideline for further research and development of new antitumor natural products.

Tumor incidence has become higher and higher in recent years, and it has also become the first killer jeopardizing human health. Tumor metastasis is the major barrier for tumor treatment. Some metastases occur in 5 or 10 years and some even in 20 years after tumor is controlled, but the metastases are impossible to defend effectively till now. Therefore, controlling tumor metastasis is critical in determining tumor patients' outcomes. In consideration of the limitations, toxicity and side effects of chemotherapeutic drugs for antitumor metastasis at present stage, seeking for drugs among traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) that share high safety and can effectively prevent and control metastasis is being paid more and more attention. This article is to expound the mechanisms of tumor metastasis and summarize the researches on antitumor metastasis with TCM.

Objectives: To analyze multi-source data including awards, publications, patents and drugs, and try to draw the whole landscape of the research and development community in the area of natural products (NPs) against cancer. Materials and Methods: Awards, publications, patents and drugs data from National Institute of Health/Natural Science Foundation of China (NIH/NSFC), PubMed, Derwent Innovation Index and Cortellis were collected. Bibliometric methodologies and technology are used to investigate publications/patents/drugs, their contents and relationships. Results: NIH and NSFC respectively demonstrated a stable and sustained expenditure growth in this area. The number of publications is continuously increasing. Yet the annual patent applications worldwide and FDA drug approvals were little changed or not obviously fluctuated in 2003-2013. USA and several Asia-pacific countries/territories are important contributing powers. We described the evolution of major research topics by those MeSH Major Topics indexed in PubMed with the largest growth range in three intervals, and analyzed hot research topics in the recent 10 years which include NPs or NPs derivatives, cell line/animal model, laboratory technologies and activation mechanisms. Conclusions: China published the most publications and received the most patent applications, but drug discovery performance is no better than USA and Japan. Research on anti-neoplastic structures and compounds originated from Chinese traditional medicine (TCM), medicinal plants, herbal medicine and marine NPs are major research topics in the recent 10 years. There still exits translational gap between basic research and drug discovery. Translational research should be undertaken to strengthen the applicability of NPs.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Kanglaite (KLT) injection combined with hepatic arterial intervention for treatment of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by meta-analysis. Materials and Methods: Computerized bibliographic searching were undertaken to identify all eligible published studies about the KLT injection combined with hepatic arterial intervention for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). PubMed, EMBASE, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Wanfang databases were all searched to included the suitable trails. The odds ratios (ORs) and its corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated as effect size with fixed-effect or random-effect models according to the heterogeneity test across the studies. Results: Nine trails were finally included in this meta-analysis. The objective response rate (ORR) was significant improved in the group of KLT injection combined with hepatic arterial intervention compared to hepatic arterial intervention alone (OR =1.80, 95% CI:1.18-2.75, P < 0.05); The combined treatment can significant improve the KSP score (OR = 3.22, 95% CI:1.36-7.60, P < 0.05) and relief the pain of patients compared to that in single treatment (OR = 2.57, 95% CI:1.65-3.99, P < 0.05). Conclusion: KLT injection combined with hepatic arterial intervention can improve the short-term clinical efficacy, quality of life, and decrease the pain of patients with unresectable HCC.

Objective: The purpose of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the effects of Fufangkushen injection combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of stomach cancer. Materials and Methods: The relevant clinical trials about Fufangkushen injection combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of stomach cancer were search in the data bases of Pubmed, EMBASE, Cochran and CNKI. The data related to objective response rate, Karnofsky (KPS) score and toxicity were extracted and pooled using the Stata 11.0 software. Dichotomous data was presented as risk ratio (RR) and its 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Results: Thirteen relevant trials were included in this meta-analysis. Heterogeneity test indicated there was no statistical heterogeneity among the studies, thus the fixed effects mode was used to calculat the results. Pooled results indicated that the objective response rate (ORR) and KPS score improvement in Fufangkushen chemotherapy group was significant higher than that of control group (RR = 1.24, P < 0.05). Synthesis data also demonstrated the Fufangkushen injection can significantly decrease the risk of developing granulocytopenia in stomach cancer patients treated with chemotherapy (RR = 0.67,P < 0.05). Conclusion: Fufangkushen injection combined with chemotherapy can increase the objective response rate, improve the quality of life and decrease the risk of developing granulocytopenia in patients with stomach cancer.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of Kanglaite (KLT) injection combined with chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone in the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) by meta-analysis. Materials and Methods: Electronic search of PubMed, EMBASE, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Wanfang databases was conducted to select studies about KLT injection combined with chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone in the treatment of advanced NSCLC. The pooled risk ratio (RR) and its 95% confidence interval (95% CI) for objective response rate (ORR), Karnofsky (KPS) score improvement and nausea and vomiting were calculated by Stata11.0 statistical software. Result: Finally, we included 34 clinical trials in this meta-analysis. The pooled results suggested that KLT injection combined with systematic chemotherapy can significantly increase the objective response rate (ORR) [RR = 1.35, 95% CI: 1.23-1.48, (Z = 6.43, P = 0.000)], the quality of patients' life (KSP improvement) [RR = 2.04, 95% CI: 1.79-2.33, (Z = 10.57, P = 0.000)] and decrease the risk ratio of gastrointestinal reaction [RR = 0.53, 95% CI: 0.42-0.66, (Z = 5.53, P = 0.000)] compared with chemotherapy alone. Conclusion: KLT injection combined with chemotherapy can improve the short-term efficacy, performance status and decrease the risk of gastrointestinal reaction compared with systematic chemotherapy alone.

Objective: The aim of this retrospectively study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of Aidi injection (ADI) combined with FOLFOX4 chemothreapy regimen in the treatment of advanced colorectal carcinoma. Patients and Methods: One hundred and twenty one patients with pathology confirmed advanced colorectal carcinoma were retrospectively analyzed in the department of colorectal surgery in Union Medical Center, Tianjin (UMC). Of the included 121 cases, 58 subjects received the treatment of ADI combined with FOLFOX4 chemotherapy (experiment group) and the other 63 cases received the FOLFOX4 chemotherapy alone (control group). After two cycles chemotherapy treatment, the short-term clinical efficacy such as complete response (CR), partial response (PR) and objective response rate (ORR) were compared between the two groups. The quality of life improvement and chemotherapy related toxicity were also recorded and analyzed. Results: The response rate including CR, PR and ORR were not statistical different between the experiment group and control group (P > 0.05); The KPS score was significant decrease in the control group compared to that in experiment group (P < 0.05); The risk of developing grade-II nausea vomiting and diarrhea was much lower in experiment than that in control group (P_all < 0.05). Conclusion: ADI combined with FOLFOX4 chemotherapy can improve the quality of life and decrease some of the toxicity related to chemotherapy in patients with advanced colorectal cancer.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of elemene intrapleural injection in the treatment of lung cancer with malignant pleural effusion by meta-analysis. Materials and Methods: PubMed (1960-2014.4), EMBASE (1980-2014.4) and CNKI (1979-2014.4) data bases were searched to identify the randomized controlled trials about elemene intrapleural injection in the treatment of malignant pleural effusion caused by lung cancer. The relativel risk (RR) was used to evaluated the the clinical efficacy of elemene intrapleural injection in the treatment of pleural effusion compared to other drugs. Results: A total of 1298 subjects with 14 studies were finally included in this meta-analysis. Meta-analysis showed that the objective response rate (ORR) in elemene group was much higher than that in other drugs group (RR =1.20, 95% CI:1.05-1.37, P = 0.008). We performed the sub-groups analysis according to the drugs used in the control group. And the subgroup analyzed demonstrated that the ORR in elemene group was higher than that in Cisplatin (DDP) and high sugar group with statistical difference (P < 0.05). But no statistical difference was found in the bleomycin and interleukin-2 [IL-2] subgroups (P > 0.05). Conclusion: High clinical efficacy of elemene was found in the treatment malignant pleural effusion in patients with lung cancer.

Objective: The aim of this meta-analysis is to evaluate the clinical efficacy of cinobufacini combined with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) in the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. Materials and Methods: By searching Medline, the Cochrane central register of controlled trials, EMBSE, ESMO, Wanfang and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases, the open published clinical trials compared the clinical efficacy of cinobufacini plus TACE versus TACE only in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma were collected. The pooled objective response rate (ORR) and 1 or 2 year survival rate were calculated by Stata11.0 statistical software. Results: Nine studies including a total of 659 subjects (333 in cinobufacini plus TACE and 326 in TACE only) were finally included in this meta-analysis. The pooled analysis demonstrated that cinobufacini plus TACE can significant increase the objective response rate (ORR) compared with TACE only with an relative risk of 1.28 (P = 0.006); The 1-year survival rate in cinobufacini plus TACE group was not significant difference compared with TACE only by pooling the data (RR = 1.24, P = 0.13); But the 2-year survival rate in cinobufacini plus TACE group was much higher than that of TACE only group with an RR of 2.0, (P = 0.001). Conclusion: This meta-analysis demonstrated that cinobufacini combined with TACE can significantly increase the objective response rate and 2-year survival rate compared with TACE only in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is very high in the world. However, a safe and effective strategy is still under research. Aims: Our aim was to demonstrate the inhibitory effect of Shaoyao Ruangan Formmula (SRF) on the tumor of H22-bearing mice and explore its antitumor mechanisms. Settings and Design: Corresponding physiological indexes of H22-bearing mice treated with SRF were compared with that of saline treated mice, which could reflect the tumor-suppressing effect of SRF. Materials and Methods: After treatment, tumor weight, survival time, related gene expression levels etc., were recorded or detected. Statistical Analysis: Data analyzed using a computer SPSS program. Results and Conclusions: Comparing with blank control group, the tumor inhibitor rate (IR) of low, middle and high dose group of SRF was 17.72%, 33.99% and 23.73%, respectively. IR of CTX was 43.95%. The results also showed that each group of SRF could prolong the life span of H22-bearing mice to some extent. In addition, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results revealed that SRF was able to influence related genes expression in the tumor tissues of H22-bearing mice. The expression of TGF-β receptor type II (TBRII) gene was significantly upregulated in each SRF group comparing with normal saline group. On the contrary, nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) was significantly downregulated in each SRF group comparing with normal saline group. In summary, SRF showed tumor-suppressing effect on mice with transplanted H22 hepatocarcinoma. The mechanism of antitumor effect may induced by upregulating TBRII expression and down-regulating NF-κB expression.

Objective: The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of Shenqifuzheng (SQFZ) injection combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: We conducted an electronic search by using PubMed, EMBASE, ASCO, ESMO and Chinese National Knowledge Infratructure (CNKI), databases. The randomized controlled trials about Shenqifuzheng injection combined with chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer were reviewed and collected. Pooled odds ratio (OR) for the response rate and KPS improvement were calculated using the software MetaAnalyst 3.1. Results: Fifteen trials met our inclusion criteria and finally included in this meta-analysis. The objective response rate (ORR) in patients treated with Shenqifuzheng injection combined with chemotherapy was much higher than that of chemotherapy only (OR = 1.66, 95% CI: 1.20-2.29) with statistical significance (P < 0.05). The pooled data showed the combined treatment can significant increase the Karnofsky score (KPS) compared with the chemotherapy only (OR = 3.74, 95% CI: 2.66-5.27 (P < 0.05). Conclusion: SQFZ injection combined with chemotherapy treatment regimen can improve the clinical efficacy and performance status in patients with advanced gastric cancer compared with chemotherapy alone.

Objective: The present study evaluated the treatment effectiveness of sodium cantharidinate/vitamin B6 in patient with middle/late stage primary liver cancer. Materials and Methods: A 3-month follow-up study on 104 patients with primary liver cancer was carried out. Regular medication treatment was applied to 41 patients and sodium cantharidinate/vitamin B6 combined with the regular medication was applied to 63 patients. The treatment effectiveness and prognosis were evaluated using the statistical methods. Results: At the end of the treatment, no significant difference was detected between the two groups; 1-month follow-up survey showed that in the treatment group, the death rate was lower, the treatment gain was maintained longer and the tumor morphology was maintained better, compared with the control group; 3-month follow-up study showed that there was not significance difference between the two groups. Conclusion: Sodium cantharidinate/vitamin B6 might be used as auxiliary drug in patients with primary liver cancer and could improve the treatment outcomes for a short-term period.

Objective: The present study observed the clinical outcomes of the sodium cantharidinate/vitamin B6/GP regimen in the treatment of middle-late stage Non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). Materials and Methods: Eighty-six cases of NSCLC were selected and randomized into two groups. Forty-five cases in the treatment group were subject to 30 ml cantharidinate/vitamin B6+ GP regimen, for four 21-day cycles. Forty-one cases in the control group were subject to regular GP regimen, for four 21-day cycles. Results: The effectiveness rate was 57.8% in the treatment group and 36.6% in the control group, suggesting statistical difference (P < 0.05); life quality in the treatment group was significantly better than that in the control group (P < 0.05); the occurrence rate of the toxic/adverse effects were significantly lower in the treatment group compared with that in the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Sodium cantharidinate/vitamin B6/GP regimen had fair effectiveness and synergistically improved the clinical outcomes. It lowered the toxic/adverse effects and its application is worth further investigation and promotion.