One of the main causes of death in Australia and a persistent threat to public health is cancer. A great deal of work has gone into creating different cancer treatment modalities, such as immunotherapy, phototherapy, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, genetic therapy, and surgery. However, these monotherapies frequently show limited therapeutic outcomes and have unavoidable side effects or adverse reactions to cancer patients in clinical practice due to the physiological heterogeneity of cancer and certain obstacles such as drug resistance of therapeutic agents, limited tumoricidal penetration depth of phototherapy, radioresistance, and immune tolerance.
Chinese medicine has been shown in recent clinical trials to extend survival and enhance quality of life in patients receiving therapy for a variety of cancers, including lung, stomach, and liver cancer. Numerous active ingredients and composite formulas from Chinese herbal medicine have been found to either prevent or alleviate the toxic side effects that patients experience from immunotherapy (such as immune-related adverse events), radiotherapy (such as pneumonitis, dermatitis, and myelosuppression), and chemotherapy (such as nephrotoxicity, cardiotoxicity, and hepatotoxicity). Furthermore, Chinese medicine composite formulae are frequently used as dietary supplements or supplementary therapies to boost patients' immunity throughout clinical cancer treatments. These formulas work by controlling immune cells and lowering inflammation, among other mechanisms.
Reference:
Wang, X, J Li, R Chen, T Li, and M Chen. "Active Ingredients from Chinese Medicine for Combination Cancer Therapy." International journal of biological sciences 19, no. 11 (2023): 3499-525.
