Recent Advances in Glycyrrhiza glabra (Licorice)-Containing Herbs Alleviating Radiotherapy- and Chemotherapy-Induced Adverse Reactions in Cancer Treatment

Kai-Lee Wang; Ying-Chun Yu; Hsin-Yuan Chen; Yi-Fen Chiang; Mohamed Ali; Tzong-Ming Shieh; Shih-Min Hsia

doi:10.3390/metabo12060535

Recent Advances in Glycyrrhiza glabra (Licorice)-Containing Herbs Alleviating Radiotherapy- and Chemotherapy-Induced Adverse Reactions in Cancer Treatment

Metabolites. 2022 Jun 9;12(6):535. doi: 10.3390/metabo12060535.

Authors

Kai-Lee Wang^{1

2}, Ying-Chun Yu^{3

4}, Hsin-Yuan Chen², Yi-Fen Chiang², Mohamed Ali⁵, Tzong-Ming Shieh⁶, Shih-Min Hsia^{2

7

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nursing, Ching Kuo Institute of Management and Health, Keelung 20301, Taiwan.
² School of Nutrition and Health Sciences, College of Nutrition, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan.
³ Sex Hormonal Research Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 40403, Taiwan.
⁴ Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Center for Tumor Biology, School of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung 40403, Taiwan.
⁵ Clinical Pharmacy Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ain Shams University, Cairo 11566, Egypt.
⁶ School of Dentistry, China Medical University, Taichung 40403, Taiwan.
⁷ Graduate Institute of Metabolism and Obesity Sciences, College of Nutrition, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan.
⁸ School of Food and Safety, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan.
⁹ Nutrition Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei 11031, Taiwan.

Abstract

Cancers represent a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. They also impose a large economic burden on patients, their families, and health insurance systems. Notably, cancers and the adverse reactions to their therapeutic options, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, dramatically affect the quality of life of afflicted patients. Therefore, developing approaches to manage chemotherapy- and radiotherapy-induced adverse reactions gained greater attention in recent years. Glycyrrhiza glabra (licorice), a perennial plant that is one of the most frequently used herbs in traditional Chinese medicine, has been heavily investigated in relation to cancer therapy. Licorice/licorice-related regimes, used in combination with chemotherapy, may improve the adverse effects of chemotherapy. However, there is little awareness of licorice-containing herbs alleviating reactions to radiotherapy and chemotherapy, or to other induced adverse reactions in cancer treatment. We aimed to provide a descriptive review, and to emphasize the possibility that licorice-related medicines could be used as an adjuvant regimen with chemotherapy to improve quality of life (QoL) and to reduce side effects, thus, improving compliance with chemotherapy. The experimental method involved searching different databases, including PubMed, the Cochrane Library, and Wang Fang database, as of May 2022, to identify any relevant studies. Despite a lack of high-quality and large-scale randomized controlled trials, we still discovered the potential benefits of licorice-containing herbs from published clinical studies. These studies find that licorice-containing herbs, and their active ingredients, reduce the adverse reactions caused by chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and improve the QoL of patients. This comprehensive review will serve as a cornerstone to encourage more scientists to evaluate and develop effective Traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions to improve the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Keywords: adverse effects; cancers; chemotherapy; licorice; radiotherapy.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants MOST110-2314-B-038-158, MOST110-2628-B-038-018, MOST110-2320-B-254-001, MOST109-2320-B-254-001, MOST109-2811-B-039-503, MOST108-2314-B-039-009-MY3, MOST108-2314-B-039-042-MY3, MOST108-2314-B-039-043-MY3, CMU109-MF-26, DMR-110-232, DMR-109-084, DMR-110-231, and DMR-109-019 from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan and China Medical University/Hospital, Taiwan.