The thorns of Gleditsia sinensis have been historically used in Chinese medicine and are considered one of the fundamental therapeutic herbs. Its anticancer effects are currently being explored. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of primary liver cancer and still requires the development of new drugs with higher efficiency. By using a rat HCC model implanted with cancerous Walker-256 cells, the therapeutic effects of G. sinensis extract (GSE) were assessed, as well as its regulatory effects on miRNAs. GSE significantly restored liver morphology and dramatically induced cell apoptosis in HCC rats. In addition, miR-21/181b/183 was upregulated in the HCC liver, and the elevation of these miRNAs could be alleviated by both GSE and sorafenib. PTEN/TIMP3/PDCD4 downregulation was consistent with the targets of miR-21/181b/183 in the HCC liver, and the alteration of these target genes was restored by both GSE and sorafenib. TIMP3 effects on MMP-2/9 expression were also determined. Our present findings indicate the potential of GSE in HCC treatment, and expand the understanding of miRNA-related mechanisms in the anticancer effects of GSE.

Within the dose range used in the present study, KXR preparation shows an inhibitory effect on HSC proliferation induced by PDGF. The mechanism of this process may involve interference with tyrosine phosphorylation mediated by PDGF.

Acupuncture is widely used in the clinical treatment of liver cirrhosis (LC) in China. However, the efficacy of acupuncture on LC has not been fully confirmed by systematic analysis. This current meta-analysis evaluated the impact effect of acupuncture on patients with LC. We conducted a systematic literature search of the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, the Chinese Biomedical Database (SinoMed), VIP medicine information system, Wanfang Data, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Embase. Further, we used Review Manager 5.3 software for the analysis of the data and Stata 14.0 software for the Egger test to assess publication bias. Fifteen studies involving 1066 patients were included in the meta-analysis. The primary outcome was the efficacy rate of acupuncture therapy. The secondary outcomes were impact on acupuncture on liver function grading assessment and lab tests related to liver functions. The result suggested that acupuncture is an effective treatment option for patients with LC as a complementary therapy. However, the recommendation is weak due to some limitations of the included studies.

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