TY - JOUR
T1 - Efficacy and Safety of Chinese Herbal Medicine on Treatment of Breast Cancer
T2 - A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
AU - Ho, Venice Wing Tung
AU - Tan, Hor-Yue
AU - Guo, Wei
AU - Li, Sha
AU - Wang, Ning
AU - Meng, Wei
AU - So, Tsz-Him
AU - Yu, Edwin Chau-Leung
AU - Feng, Yibin
N1 - Funding Information:
The study was financially supported by Wong’s Donation (Project Code: 200006276), the Gaia Family Trust for Modern Oncology of Chinese Medicine (Project Code: 200007008), Research Grant Council, HKSAR (Project Code RGC GRF 17152116), Innovation and Technology Commission: The 2nd Phase of Integrative Joint Organizational Platform (IJOP) Disease Collaborative Panel (Project Code: 200009062), and Health and Medical Research Fund (Project Codes 15162961, 16172751, and 17181101).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s)
PY - 2021/9/16
Y1 - 2021/9/16
N2 - Breast cancer is currently the most common cancer in women, and it
accounts for 11.6% of all cancer diagnoses in 2018. Breast cancer
patients frequently resort to alternative medicine in addition to
conventional Western therapy. This study is to evaluate clinical
effectiveness of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) on breast cancer by
conducting meta-analyses on 81 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with a
total of 7215 subjects from eight databases. All RCTs compared patients
using Western therapy alone and those using additional CHM therapy to
evaluate the difference of primary (tumor response, mean time to
progression (mTTP), overall survival (OS) and progression free survival
(PFS)) and secondary outcome measures (tumor markers). Results showed
that under the RECIST1.1 criteria, 52% patients with additional CHM
therapy (67%, under WHO criteria) achieved either a complete response
(CR) or a partial response (PR), compared to 38% patients with Western
therapy alone (53%, under the WHO criteria). The risk ratio was 1.31 (p < 0.00001, 95% CI = 1.15–1.50) for patients with CHM plus Western therapy and 1.25 (p
< 0.00001, 95% CI = 1.18–1.98) for those with Western therapy.
Moreover, patients with complementary CHM therapy were associated with
an mTTP of 2.79 months longer (p < 0.00001) and an OS of 1.90 months longer (p < 0.00001); they also had an increase in 3-year PFS (p= 0.002), 2- (p= 0.0002) and 5-year (p=
0.006) OS rates. Therefore, complementary CHM therapy might demonstrate
clinical benefits for breast cancer patients in terms of tumor response
and survival. Clinical studies with further stratification of tumor
stages and intervention types are highly warranted.
AB - Breast cancer is currently the most common cancer in women, and it
accounts for 11.6% of all cancer diagnoses in 2018. Breast cancer
patients frequently resort to alternative medicine in addition to
conventional Western therapy. This study is to evaluate clinical
effectiveness of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) on breast cancer by
conducting meta-analyses on 81 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with a
total of 7215 subjects from eight databases. All RCTs compared patients
using Western therapy alone and those using additional CHM therapy to
evaluate the difference of primary (tumor response, mean time to
progression (mTTP), overall survival (OS) and progression free survival
(PFS)) and secondary outcome measures (tumor markers). Results showed
that under the RECIST1.1 criteria, 52% patients with additional CHM
therapy (67%, under WHO criteria) achieved either a complete response
(CR) or a partial response (PR), compared to 38% patients with Western
therapy alone (53%, under the WHO criteria). The risk ratio was 1.31 (p < 0.00001, 95% CI = 1.15–1.50) for patients with CHM plus Western therapy and 1.25 (p
< 0.00001, 95% CI = 1.18–1.98) for those with Western therapy.
Moreover, patients with complementary CHM therapy were associated with
an mTTP of 2.79 months longer (p < 0.00001) and an OS of 1.90 months longer (p < 0.00001); they also had an increase in 3-year PFS (p= 0.002), 2- (p= 0.0002) and 5-year (p=
0.006) OS rates. Therefore, complementary CHM therapy might demonstrate
clinical benefits for breast cancer patients in terms of tumor response
and survival. Clinical studies with further stratification of tumor
stages and intervention types are highly warranted.
KW - Breast Cancer
KW - Chinese Herbal Medicine
KW - Clinical Efficacy
KW - Clinical Trials
KW - Complementary Medicine
KW - Meta-Analysis
KW - Review
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85117176497&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1142/S0192415X21500737
DO - 10.1142/S0192415X21500737
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 34530698
AN - SCOPUS:85117176497
SN - 0192-415X
VL - 49
SP - 1557
EP - 1575
JO - The American Journal of Chinese Medicine
JF - The American Journal of Chinese Medicine
IS - 7
ER -