A Retrospective Analysis on 1330 Adverse Event Reports of Qingkailing in China: Further Perception of Its Risks and Rational Use.

Qingkailing (QKL) is a modern preparation exploited according to the traditional Chinese medicine theory. It becomes the second leading cause of adverse drug events (ADEs) in all traditional Chinese medicine injections. The safety evaluation and rational use of QKL are of special importance. This retrospective study used data from Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Center of Hubei Province in China from January 2012 to December 2014. ADE cases induced by QKL were collected and analyzed according to patients' demographics, characteristics of drugs involved, characteristics of ADEs, causality, and outcomes. A total of 1330 qualified ADEs were included. Most ADEs occurred within 30 min after administration and the 0-10 years old age group had the highest number of ADEs. The common ADEs included anaphylactic reaction, dyspnea and nausea. Serious reactions accounted for 5.19%. Combination with cephalosporin (74/146, 50.69%) caused more ADEs than other drugs did. Serious attention should be paid when QKL is used for children, and combination with cephalosporin should be avoided.

Stem cells in cancer therapy: opportunities and challenges.

Metastatic cancer cells generally cannot be eradicated using traditional surgical or chemoradiotherapeutic strategies, and disease recurrence is extremely common following treatment. On the other hand, therapies employing stem cells are showing increasing promise in the treatment of cancer. Stem cells can function as novel delivery platforms by homing to and targeting both primary and metastatic tumor foci. Stem cells engineered to stably express various cytotoxic agents decrease tumor volumes and extend survival in preclinical animal models. They have also been employed as virus and nanoparticle carriers to enhance primary therapeutic efficacies and relieve treatment side effects. Additionally, stem cells can be applied in regenerative medicine, immunotherapy, cancer stem cell-targeted therapy, and anticancer drug screening applications. However, while using stem cells to treat human cancers appears technically feasible, challenges such as treatment durability and tumorigenesis necessitate further study to improve therapeutic performance and applicability. This review focuses on recent progress toward stem cell-based cancer treatments, and summarizes treatment advantages, opportunities, and shortcomings, potentially helping to refine future trials and facilitate the translation from experimental to clinical studies.