Comprehensive treatment with Chinese medicine in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer: A multicenter, prospective, cohort study.

Objective: To determine whether additional Chinese medicine (CM) could prolong survival and improve the quality of life (QOL) in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) compared with Western medicine (WM) alone.

Methods: This was a multicenter, prospective cohort study. A total of 474 hospitalized patients with stage III-IV NSCLC were recruited and divided into 2 groups.

[A Retrospective Study of Chinese Herbal Medicine Combined with Systemic Chemotherapy and/or Regional Arterial Perfusion for Pancreatic Cancer with Liver Metastases].

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicine combined with systemic chemotherapy and/or regional arterial perfusion for pancreatic cancer with liver metastases (PCLM).

Methods: We retrospectively selected 292 patients with PCLM who were treated by Chinese herbal medicine combined with systemic chemotherapy and/or regional arterial perfusion at Tianjin Medical University Cancer Hospital from January 2001 to December 2010. All patients were assigned to the Western medicine treatment group (157 cases) and the integrative medicine treatment group (135 cases).

[Analysis on the clinical and prognostic features of 71 male patients with breast cancer].

Objective: Male breast cancer (MBC) is a rare disease, with clinical and prognostic features still controversial. The aim of this study was to discuss the clinical characteristics and prognosis of MBC.

Methods: Clinical data related to 71 MBC patients was reviewed.

An open-labeled, randomized, multicenter phase IIa study of gambogic acid injection for advanced malignant tumors.

Background: Gambogic acid is a pure active compound isolated from the traditional Chinese medicinal plant gamboge (Garcinia morella Desv.). Based on the preliminary results of a phase I study, this phase IIa study compared the efficacy and safety of different dosage schedules of gambogic acid in patients with advanced malignant tumors.

[Diagnosis and treatment of epithelioid sarcoma].

Objective: To analyze the clinical features, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of epithelioid sarcoma (ES).

Methods: The clinical data of 13 cases with epithelioid sarcoma in the Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital from March 1995 to December 2009 were collected and analyzed. There were 10 males and 3 females in the group, with an average age of 41.

[Phase III clinical study of zoledronic acid in the treatment of pain induced by bone metastasis from solid tumor or multiple myeloma].

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of zoledronic acid in the treatment of bone pain in patients with bone metastasis from solid tumor or multiple myeloma.

Methods: A randomized, double-blind, double-simulated and multi-center phase III clinical trail with pamidronate as control was conducted. Patients with moderate to severe bone pain (VAS > 50 mm) induced by solid tumor or multiple myeloma were randomized to receive intravenous zoledronic acid 4 mg or pamidronate 90 mg.

Induced differentiation of hepatocellular carcinoma by natural products.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide. For the difficulty of the giving sufficient dose because of the poor liver function and the low sensitivity of hepatoma cells for the chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapy adds little to overall survival of hepatocellular carcinoma patients. The induction of terminal differentiation in tumor cells represents a possible therapeutic strategy with less toxicity.

Effects of aqueous extracts of Aconitum carmichaeli, Rhizoma bolbostemmatis, Phytolacca acinosa, Panax notoginseng and Gekko swinhonis Gūenther on Bel-7402 cells.

Aim: To investigate the anticancer activity of a chinese medical mixture, WRCP (warming and relieving Cold Phlegm), on hepatocarcinoma Bel-7402 cells.

Methods: Fingerprints of WRCP, which were composed of aqueous extracts of Aconitum carmichaeli, Rhizoma bolbostemmatis, Phytolacca acinosa, Panax notoginseng and Gekko swinhonis Guenther, and aconitine, which could be isolated from Aconitum carmichaeli and have the potential toxicity, were identified by high pressure liquid chromatography. Bel-7402 cells were grown in the presence of WRCP, As(2)O(3) or all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA).

Hypoxia and hepatocellular carcinoma: The therapeutic target for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hypoxia enhances proliferation, angiogenesis, metastasis, chemoresistance, and radioresistance of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); suppresses differentiation and apoptosis of HCC; and consequently leads to resistance of transarterial embolization (with or without chemotherapy). Because transarterial embolization contributes to angiogenesis via inducing hypoxia, therapy combined with transarterial embolization and antiangiogenic therapy provides a new strategy for the treatment of HCC. Unfortunately, hypoxia leads to the escape of HCC cells from transarterial embolization and antiangiogenic therapy.

Bone marrow-derived cells: roles in solid tumor. Minireview.

The role of cancer stem cells has been demonstrated for some cancers. Recently, research indicated that solid tumors may originate from bone marrow stem cells. Bone marrow-derived cells have recently been shown to contribute to stromal formation, especially angiogenesis and lymphvasculogenesis.

Clinical research on nourishing yin and unblocking meridians recipe combined with opioid analgesics in cancer pain management.

Objective: To investigate the analgesic effects of Nourishing yin and Unblocking meridians Receipe (NUR) combined with opioid analgesics in managing cancer pain.

Methods: All the patients enrolled were differentiated as of yin deficiency and meridian blocked syndrome type of TCM. Forty-one of them in the treated group were treated with NUR combined with opioid analgesics, while 43 of them in the control group were given opioid analgesics alone with successive 14 days as one treatment course for both groups.

Effects of Gekko sulfated polysaccharide on the proliferation and differentiation of hepatic cancer cell line.

Gekko swinhonis Gūenther has been used as an anti-cancer drug in traditional Chinese medicine. Gekko sulfated polysaccharide (Gepsin) was investigated for its activity in hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatocarcinoma cell line (Bel-7402) and liver cell line (L-02) were exposed to Gepsin (100 microg/ml and 10 microg/ml).

Extracellular matrix remodeling in hepatocellular carcinoma: effects of soil on seed?

Extracellular matrix plays two-edged roles, inhibitor and promoter, in the carcinogenesis and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma. On the one hand, extracellular matrix provides the survival signals, and controls the proliferation, differentiation and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma. On the other hand, hepatocarcinoma cells create a permissive soil by extracellular matrix remodeling, result in high proliferation, low differentiation, apoptosis block, invasion and metastasis.

[Clinical study of zoledronic acid in the treatment of cancer-induced hypercalcemia].

Objective: To investigate the effect and safety of zoledronic acid (Zoledex) in patients with cancer-induced hypercalcemia.

Methods: Seventeen patients with cancer-induced hypercalcemia (corrected blood calcium > 2.70 mmol/L) were treated intravenously by 4 mg zoledex within 15 minutes on the first day.

[Transdermal fentanyl for the management of cancer pain: a survey of 4492 patients].

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and adverse effects of transdermal fentanyl in management of patients with cancer pain.

Methods: A total of 4492 patients (aged 3-90) with cancer pain were enrolled in this multicenter study. The mean age was 58.

[Transdermal fentanyl for the management of cancer pain: a survey of 1,664 elderly patients].

Objective: To evaluate the effects and side effects of transdermal fentanyl for the elderly patients with cancer pain.

Methods: A multicenter clinical test was conducted among 1,664 patients with cancer pain, aged 65 - 90 with a median age of 71, 879 (52.8%) of which used opioid for the first time, from 136 hospitals in 23 provinces in China.

[Clinical trial on exemestane in the treatment of postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer].

Objective: To evaluate the response rate and adverse reactions of exemestane (a new aromatase inactivator) in the treatment of postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer.

Methods: One hundred and seventy-three patients with advanced breast cancer entered this study with two patients excluded because of postmenopausal time being less than one year. Therefore, 173 patients could be evaluated for adverse events and 171 patients could be evaluated for efficacy.