Ethnopharmacological relevance: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as the major histological subtype of primary liver cancer remains one of the most common malignancies worldwide. Due to the complicated molecular pathogenesis of HCC, the option for effective systemic treatment is quite limited. There exists a critical need to explore and evaluate possible alternative strategies for effective control of HCC. With a long history of clinical use, Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) is emerging as a noticeable choice for its multi-level, multi-target and coordinated intervention effects against HCC. With the aids of phytochemistry and molecular biological approaches, in the past decades many CHM-derived compounds have been carefully studied through both preclinical and clinical researches and have shown great potential in novel anti-HCC natural product development. The present review aimed at providing the most recent developments on anti-HCC compounds derived from CHM, especially their underlying pharmacological mechanisms.
Materials and methods: A systematic search of anti-HCC compounds from CHM was carried out focusing on literatures published both in English (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Medline) and in Chinese academic databases (Wanfang and CNKI database).
Results: In this review, we tried to give a timely and comprehensive update about the anti-HCC effects and targets of several representative CHM-derived compounds, namely curcumin, resveratrol, silibinin, berberine, quercetin, tanshinone II-A and celastrol. Their mechanisms of anti-HCC behaviors, potential side effects or toxicity and future research directions were discussed.
Conclusion: Herbal compounds derived from CHM are of much significance in devising new drugs and providing unique ideas for the war against HCC. We propose that these breakthrough findings may have important implications for targeted-HCC therapy and modernization of CHM.
Keywords: AP-1; ARNT; ATP synthase H(+) transporting mitochondrial Fo complex-subunit B1; ATP5F1; Akt; CAV1; CDKs; CHM; COX-2; Cancer therapy; Chinese herbal medicine; Curcumin; ELAM-1; ERK1/2; HBV; HCC; HCV; HIF-1α; Hepatocellular carcinoma; ICAM-1; IL; JNK; MAPK; MMP; PARP; PCNA; PTEN; ROS; STAT; TCM; UDP-glucuronosyl transferase; UGT; VCAM-1; VEGF; activator protein 1; aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocate; c-Jun N-terminal kinases; caveolin-1; cyclin dependent protein kinases; cyclooxygenase-2; endothelial leukocyte adhesion molecule; extracellular regulated protein kinases 1/2; hepatitis B virus; hepatitis C virus; hepatocellular carcinoma; hypoxia-inducible factor-alpha; interleukin; intracellular adhesion molecule; matrix metalloproteinases; mitogen-activated protein kinases; phosphatase and tensin homolog; poly ADP-ribose polymerase; proliferating cell nuclear antigen; protein kinase B; reactive oxygen species; signal transducers and activators of transcription; traditional Chinese medicine; vascular cell adhesion molecule; vascular endothelial growth factor..
Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.