Feasibility Analysis of Wumeiwan in Treatment of Advanced Biliary Tract Cancers / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

Biliary tract cancers are group of highly heterogeneous malignant tumors derived from gallbladder and bile duct epithelium， including gallbladder cancer and cholangiocarcinoma， with a high degree of malignancy. When diagnosed， the course of disease often develops to the middle and late stage， with a poor prognosis. It is difficult to treat the advanced biliary tract cancers， with a lack of unified chemotherapy standard and targeted drugs. Traditional Chinese medicine（TCM） compound has multi-target， multi-link and multi-path characteristics， with effects in stabilizing tumor， alleviating clinical symptoms， alleviating side effect of radiotherapy and chemotherapy， and improving the quality of life. Especially in the treatment of advanced cancer patients， it plays an irreplaceable role. Therefore， it is concerned by many researchers. According to TCM， the pathogenesis of patients with advanced biliary tract cancers are mainly due to asthenia of healthy Qi and sthenia of pathogenic factors， Yin-Yang disharmony， and simultaneous occurrence of cold and heat. The location of the disease is related to liver， gallbladder， spleen， stomach and kidney. Because the advanced biliary tract cancers are similar to Jueyin syndrome in disease location， course and disease， Wumeiwan is often used in clinical treatment. Based on "theory， method， prescription and medicine" of TCM， Wumeiwan has the effect in regulating cold and heat， clearing the upper and lower temperature， warming the liver and supporting Yang， attacking and supplementing simultaneously， balancing the liver， spleen and kidney， which conforms to the TCM syndrome characteristics of advanced biliary tract cancers， according to modern Chinese medicine pharmacology， many effective ingredients in Wumeiwan have the effects in inducing tumor cell apoptosis， inhibiting tumor cell proliferation and reducing tumor cell proliferation， reducing inflammatory response in the body， inhibiting angiogenesis， reversing multidrug resistance of tumor cells and regulating immunity. This paper analyzes the feasibility of treatment of advanced biliary tract cancers with Wumeiwan from the perspective of traditional Chinese and Western medicine， so as to provide reference for clinical comprehensive treatment of advanced biliary tract cancers and the experimental study of TCM.