The potential of complementary and alternative medicine combination chemotherapy in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer

An Yan,Xiu-Ling Wei,Huai-Yuan Zheng,Kai-Ren Xie,Xu Yan,Shi-Bo Zhao,,Zi-Hui Liu

1College of Clinical Medicine,Youjiang Medical University for Nationalities,Baise 533000,China.2Obstetrics and Gynecology,Southwest Hospital Affiliated to Youjiang Medical College for Nationalities,Baise 533000,China.3College of Graduate,Youjiang Medical University for Nationalities,Baise 533000,China.4College of Pharmacy,Hubei University of Chinese Medicine,Wuhan 430065,China.5General Surgery,Fangchenggang First People's Hospital,Fangchenggang 538000,China.6College of Clinical Medicine,Guilin Medical College,Guilin 541000,China.7Hematology,Fangchenggang First People's Hospital,Fangchenggang 538000,China.

The most common cytotoxic effects of chemotherapy drugs alone include bone marrow suppression,gastrointestinal symptoms,and liver and kidney function problems.With the continuous research on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC),various treatment modalities such as targeted therapy and immunotherapy have emerged in recent years,but there is no denying that chemotherapy remains one of the most basic treatment modalities.Shen Jia et al.,in exploring the efficacy of detoxification and yin clearing soup (Astragalus membranaceus(Fisch.)Bunge,Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz,et al.),found that the addition of the soup treatment significantly reduced the number of adverse reactions such as bone marrow suppression,nausea and vomiting,and abnormal liver and kidney function,and the incidence of adverse reactions was also significantly lower than that of the group with chemotherapy drugs alone [1].Huang Xiuping Chinese medicine tonics were also found to reduce the incidence of fever [2].Li Qin and Xiong Xuefang et al.added mushroom polysaccharide injection and Addy injection and found that the incidence of adverse reactions and the time to disappear of symptoms were significantly shorter,and the control of postoperative adverse reactions was also better than that of chemotherapeutic drugs alone [3,4].Yang Shengli et al.found that topical Chinese medicine as an adjunct to chemotherapy could alleviate the symptoms of myelosuppression (leukopenia and thrombocytopenia),nausea and vomiting,and fatigue [5].Li Wan et al.found that moxibustion could prevent nausea and vomiting and fatigue caused by chemotherapy drugs [6].

Traditional medicine also has a potentiating effect from Li WT and Huang XP [2,7].The effect of complementary and alternative medicine on the efficacy of cancer-related fatigue in chemotherapy patients was investigated by Li Wentao and Huang Xiuping,who used acupuncture and moxibustion to regulate Sanjiao and Sha Shen Mai Dong Tang combined with Five Flavors Sterilization Drink.Song and other researchers.The data showed that patients’ near-term and long-term survival rates and overall survival time were prolonged to a certain extent after complementary and alternative medicine adjuvant therapy [8–11].Mingna Tan and Luo Wen investigated the effect of adding and removing herbal tonics on tumor suppression,and the results showed that combining chemotherapy with herbal tonics was significantly better than chemotherapy drugs alone,both in terms of the number of remissions and total tumor suppression efficiency [12,13].In addition,Yang Shengli et al.used topical application of Chinese herbal medicine to compare with chemotherapy alone in terms of tumor suppression efficiency,and Dong Hui et al.performed similar experiments using Kang-ai injection,and both of them came to the same conclusion [5,14].

Chemotherapy drugs can cause numerous adverse reactions,and Shen Jia and Cheng Wei et al.investigated the effects of herbal tonics on patients’ quality of life,and showed that Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) scores were significantly better and symptom relief was more pronounced after adjuvant herbal tonics,indicating that herbal tonics can reverse the trend of chemotherapy drugs causing patients’KPS scores to decline and are more advantageous in improving quality of life [1,15].Xiong Xuefang et al.made a similar experiment with Chinese herbal injections by referring to the Quality of Life Measurement Scale for Cancer Patients (EORTCQLQ-C30),and the results showed that both in terms of somatic,emotional and social functions,the patients showed the higher quality of life after the combination of injections [4].Other researchers found significant improvements in the number,duration,and overall effectiveness of remission of adverse symptoms such as malaise and hemoptysis after applying complementary and alternative medicine adjuvant therapy through the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) evidence score [3,16,17].Wang Yuxiang et al.also found that the complementary and alternative medicine techniques of abdominal tuina and acupressure could help patients relieve postoperative pain and improve postoperative quality of life to some extent,and were also effective in treating functional constipation [18–20].This suggests that,regardless of the scoring method used,abdominal tuina and acupressure can be used to improve the quality of survival.This suggests that complementary and alternative medicine has a unique advantage in improving prognosis,regardless of the scoring rule or the type of complementary and alternative medicine modality used.

Luo Wen et al.found in an experimental comparison that tonifying Zhong Yi Qi Tang could better inhibit the expression of CYFRA21-1,significantly reduce the data of IGF-1,TGF-β1 and VEGF,and significantly increase the number of T lymphocytes and immunoglobulins,with higher data indicating a better immune capacity of the patient’s organism [13,20–22].The higher the data,the better the immunity of the patient.Jin Mu et al.found that there was a significant decrease in serum tumor markers (CEA,CA125),T lymphocytes and immunoglobulin counts in patients after using chemotherapy drugs,but the data were better after applying adjuvant chemotherapy with phlegm-eliminating and stasis-dispersing soup,which indicates that chemotherapy drugs have damage to the immune function of the organism,but the herbal soup will reduce this damage[17].Meng Qingxin and Huan Jiale et al.found that using herbal injections dramatically reduced the quantity of protein kinase (P-ERK)and neuron-specific enolase (NSE),as well as suppressed the development of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-2,MMP-9) [23,24].Complementary and alternative medicine is still in the adjuvant stage of lung cancer treatment because the mechanism targets of complementary and alternative medicine are diverse and the focus of different modalities varies,but the majority of current treatments are single chemotherapy drugs combined with single complementary and alternative medicine treatment,and comparative studies between the efficacy of single Chinese medicine.