Traditional herbal medicine: A review of potential of inhibitory hepatocellular carcinoma in basic research and clinical trial

Although significantly develops in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), features of HCC remain an aggressive cancer with a dismal outcome. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), specifically Chinese herbal medicine (CHM), is one of the most popular complementary and alternative medicine modalities worldwide. The use of heat-clearing and detoxicating (Chinese named qingre jiedu) CHM has attracted great attention as an alternative antitumor including HCC considering its low toxicity and high activity. Together these reports indicate that CHM is a promising anti-HCC herbal remedy in basic research. For patients with advanced HCC, CHM including formula and single combined with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization or chemotherapy is able to decrease tumor growth and the side effect of toxicity and improve overall survival, quality of life, and immune function. Due to its abundance, low cost, and safety in consumption, CHM remains a species with tremendous potential for further investigation in HCC.