Cancer stem cells (CSCs) play a critical role in both cancer initiation and relapse as they are resistant to most cytotoxic agents and able to proliferate indefinitely. The plant alkaloid oxymatrine has many biological activities including the ability to induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, which makes it a potentially useful agent for targeting cancer cells. In order to determine whether it has beneficial pharmacological properties to eradicate CSCs, we analyzed the effects of oxymatrine on MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Cancer stem-like cells' (side population, SP) identification and sorting were performed. The inhibitory effect of oxymatrine was evaluated on the sorted SP and non-SP cells. The results indicated that oxymatrine caused a dose-dependent reduction in the proliferation of MCF-7 cells and a decrease in SP cells. Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway was also examined by analyzing the expression of total β-catenin and phosphorylated β-catenin in cytoplasm, and the results showed that the growth inhibitory effects of oxymatrine treatment on MCF-7 cells may be due to the inhibition of SP and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Further work is warranted to explore whether oxymatrine may be a useful novel therapeutic drug for targeting breast CSCs.

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are small subpopulations of neoplastic cells within a tumor, which have self-renewal and differentiation abilities and could generate new tumors with few cells. Researches have showed that CSCs are considered the most likely reason for cancer recurrence and metastasis. Accumulating evidences have showed that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has significant effect on CSCs. It could inhibit the proliferation, self-renew, and multidifferentiation of CSCs. We aimed to summarize the theories of CSCs in TCM, the inhibitory effect, and the pathway on CSCs of TCM. This review will provide potential new strategies and alternative perspectives for CSCs treatments and basic research into complementary and alternative medicine.

The anti-cancer mechanism of YWKL granules may involve enhancement of RBC immunity and of T lymphocyte immune function, which is supported by the finding of RBC immune function being correlated with T lymphocyte immune function.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the effect of the postsurgical administration of Shenyi capsules on the outcome and overall survival of patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and Methods: This was a multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial. Patients with stages I–IIIA NSCLC were randomized to Shenyi or placebo groups (treatment duration: 6 months) and followed up for 10 years. One-year, 2-year, 5-year, and 10-year survival rates and survival times were calculated. Symptoms, quality of life, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome, and recurrence were evaluated. Results: A total of 361 patients (treatment group, n = 185; placebo group, n = 176) were randomized and followed up for 10 years. The two groups had similar baseline demographic and clinical characteristics. Among all 361 patients, the treatment group had significantly longer median survival (31 months, respectively) than the placebo group (22.3 months, P < 0.01). In stage II or III patients, recurrence and metastasis rates in the treatment group were lower than those in the placebo group (P < 0.05). The treatment group also had significantly longer 1-year and 2-year survival rates based on the full analysis set and per-protocol set; however, there was no statistically significant difference in the 5-year and 10-year survival rates (P < 0.01 for all comparisons). Multivariate analysis of variance showed that the interaction between stage and age had a significant impact on overall survival (P < 0.05). Compared with the placebo group, the treatment group showed a significant decrease in TCM syndrome (P < 0.01) and a significant increase in the Karnofsky Performance Score (P < 0.01) and body weight (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Adjunctive therapy with Shenyi capsules significantly prolonged the 1-year and 2-year survival rates after surgery and improved the quality of life. Moreover, none of the patients experienced severe adverse effects. These results suggest that Shenyi capsules may have clinical applications in treating patients with NSCLC.