Holistic View of TCM on Cancer Integrative Therapy

Abstract

Cancer remains a significant threat to public health globally. Within the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) framework, cancer is perceived not merely as an isolated disease but as a manifestation of a broader imbalance within the human body. Recent advancements in modern medicine have garnered increased attention toward the integrative approach to cancer therapy, combining conventional treatments with TCM practices focusing on achieving a holistic balance. This article aims to delineate the comprehensive perspective of TCM in integrative cancer therapy, emphasizing its foundational principles of personalized treatment grounded in syndrome differentiation and treatment.

Keywords

Cancer / Integrative therapy / TCM / Holistic perspective / Personalized treatment / Syndrome differentiation and treatment

Acknowledgments

There is nothing to declare.

Funding

The authors received staff and equipment support for the follow-ing research projects: Fundamental Research Ability Improve-ment Project for Young and Middle-aged Teachers in Guangxi Universities (Natural Science), Agreement No. 2022KY0300. Innovation Project of Guangxi Graduate Education of GXUCM, Agreement No. YCBXJ2023040. Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Self-funded Scientific Research Project (Natural Science), Agreement No. GXZYZ20210346. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, publication decisions, or manuscript preparation.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interests.

Author contributions

ZCZ and MZ conceived, designed the study, and wrote the paper. MZ reviewed and edited the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the article.

References

[1] Sung H, Ferlay J, Siegel RL, Laversanne M, Soerjomataram I, Jemal A, et al. Global Cancer Statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN Estimates of Incidence and Mortality Worldwide for 36 Cancers in 185 Countries. CA Can-cer J Clin 2021;71( 3):209-249. doi:10.3322/caac.21660,PMID:33538338.

[2] Lin L, Li Z, Yan L, Liu Y, Yang H, Li H. Global, regional, and national cancer incidence and death for 29 cancer groups in 2019 and trends analysis of the global cancer burden, 1990-2019. J Hematol Oncol 2021; 14(1):197. doi:10.1186/s13045-021-01213-z,PMID:34809683.

[3] Keum N, Giovannucci E. Global burden of colorectal cancer: emerg-ing trends, risk factors and prevention strategies. Nat Rev Gastroen-terol Hepatol 2019; 16(12):713-732. doi:10.1038/s41575-019-0189-8,PMID:31455888.

[4] Li YT, Tan XY, Huang LN, Ma LX, Fu L. Research Progress in Immu-nosuppressive Tumor Microenvironment of Gastrointestinal Cancer Sichuan Da Xue Xue Bao Yi Xue Ban 2022; 53(1):7-14. doi:10.12182/20220160501,PMID:35048593. (in Chinese).

[5] Siegel RL, Miller KD, Goding Sauer A, Fedewa SA, Butterly LF, An-derson JC, et al. Colorectal cancer statistics, 2020. CA Cancer J Clin 2020;70( 3):145-164. doi:10.3322/caac.21601,PMID:32133645.

[6] Roy PS, Saikia BJ. Cancer and cure: A critical analysis. Indian J Can-cer 2016; 53(3):441-442. doi:10.4103/0019-509X.200658,PMID:28244479.

[7] Li Z, Feiyue Z, Gaofeng L. Traditional Chinese medicine and lung cancer—From theory to practice. Biomed Pharmacother 2021;137:111381. doi:10.1016/j.biopha.2021.111381,PMID:33601147.

[8] Xiang Y, Guo Z, Zhu P, Chen J, Huang Y. Traditional Chinese medicine as a cancer treatment: Modern perspectives of ancient but advanced science. Cancer Med 2019; 8(5):1958-1975. doi:10.1002/cam4.2108,PMID:30945475.

[9] Zhang X, Qiu H, Li C, Cai P, Qi F. The positive role of traditional Chi-nese medicine as an adjunctive therapy for cancer. Biosci Trends 2021; 15(5):283-298. doi:10.5582/bst.2021.01318,PMID:34421064.

[10] Mao JJ, Pillai GG, Andrade CJ, Ligibel JA, Basu P, Cohen L, et al. Integra-tive oncology: Addressing the global challenges of cancer prevention and treatment. CA Cancer J Clin 2022;72( 2):144-164. doi:10.3322/caac.21706,PMID:34751943.

[11] Wang JJ, Lei KF, Han F. Tumor microenvironment: recent ad-vances in various cancer treatments. Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci 2018; 22(12):3855-3864. doi:10.26355/eurrev_201806_15270, PMID:29949179.

[12] Chan KK, Naik R. Advances in surgical treatment of cervical can-cer. Womens Health (Lond) 2008; 4(3):245-256. doi:10.2217/17455057.4.3.245,PMID:19072474.

[13] Ben Barak A, Golan H, Waldman D, Arkovitz MS. Surgical Treat-ment of Neuroblastoma. Isr Med Assoc J 2017; 19(11):691-695. PMID:29185283.

[14] Bremner RM, DeMeester TR. Surgical treatment of esophageal carcino-ma. Gastroenterol Clin North Am 1991; 20(4):743-763. PMID:1723970.

[15] Morton LM, Dores GM, Schonfeld SJ, Linet MS, Sigel BS, Lam CJK, et al. Association of Chemotherapy for Solid Tumors With Develop-ment of Therapy-Related Myelodysplastic Syndrome or Acute My-eloid Leukemia in the Modern Era. JAMA Oncol 2019; 5(3):318-325. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2018.5625,PMID:30570657.

[16] Teepen JC, Curtis RE, Dores GM, Berrington de Gonzalez A, van den Heuvel-Eibrink MM, Kremer LCM, et al. Risk of subsequent myeloid neoplasms after radiotherapy treatment for a solid cancer among adults in the United States, 2000-2014. Leukemia 2018; 32(12):2580-2589. doi:10.1038/s41375-018-0149-2,PMID:29795414.

[17] Huang R, Zhou PK. DNA damage repair: historical perspectives, mechanistic pathways and clinical translation for targeted cancer therapy. Signal Transduct Target Ther 2021; 6(1):254. doi:10.1038/s41392-021-00648-7,PMID:34238917.

[18] Boshuizen J, Peeper DS. Rational Cancer Treatment Combinations: An Urgent Clinical Need. Mol Cell 2020; 78(6):1002-1018. doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2020.05.031, PMID:32559422.

[19] Lee YT, Tan YJ, Oon CE. Molecular targeted therapy: Treating cancer with specificity. Eur J Pharmacol 2018; 834:188-196. doi:10.1016/j.ejphar.2018.07.034, PMID:30031797.

[20] Li Y, Hong E, Ye W, You J. Moxibustion as an Adjuvant Therapy for Cancer Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Pain Res 2023; 16:515-525. doi:10.2147/JPR.S396696,PMID:36824500.

[21] Wu X, Chung VC, Hui EP, Ziea ET, Ng BF, Ho RS, et al. Effectiveness of acupuncture and related therapies for palliative care of cancer: overview of systematic reviews. Sci Rep 2015; 5:16776. doi:10.1038/srep16776,PMID:26608664.

[22] Li Y, Qi D, Gong L, Qu H, Xu B, Wen X, et al. Effect of auricular points treatment combined with acupoints application in patients with con-stipation after lung cancer surgery. J Cancer Res Ther 2017; 13(5):844-848. doi:10.4103/jcrt.JCRT_709_17, PMID:29237915.

[23] Yuan R, Xin QQ, Tang SH, Cong WH. Treatment of COVID-19 guided by holistic view of traditional Chinese medicine—therapy aimed at both viral and host Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi 2020; 45(7):1521-1525. doi:10.19540/j.cnki.cjcmm.20200304.501,PMID:32489029. (in Chinese).

[24] Zheng ZJ. Exploration of microcosmic Chinese medicine used by Western medicine Zhongguo Zhong Xi Yi Jie He Za Zhi 2015; 35(2):133-136. PMID:25881454. (in Chinese).

[25] Sun DZ, Li SD, Liu Y, Zhang Y, Mei R, Yang MH. Differences in the ori-gin of philosophy between Chinese medicine and Western medicine: Exploration of the holistic advantages of Chinese medicine. Chin J Integr Med 2013; 19(9):706-711. doi:10.1007/s11655-013-1435-5,PMID:23975136.

[26] Deng G, Cassileth BR, Yeung KS. Complementary therapies for can-cer-related symptoms. J Support Oncol 2004; 2(5):419-426discussion427- 429PMID:15524070.

[27] Winkler C. Traditional Chinese medicine and cancer recurrence (in French). Rev Infirm 2015; 64(207):43. doi:10.1016/j.revinf.2014.10.020,PMID:26144518.

[28] He YH. General survey of traditional Chinese medicine and West-ern medicine researches on tumor metastasis. Chin J Integr Med 2006; 12(1):75-80. doi:10.1007/BF02857438,PMID:16571292.

[29] Yan Y, Sun L, Yang Y. 327P Traditional Chinese medicine jianpi-bushen sequential formula modulating gut microbiota for stage II&III colon cancer patients during adjuvant chemotherapy: Results from a multi-center randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial in China. Ann Oncol 2022; 33(S7):S687. doi:10.1016/j.an-nonc.2022.07.465.

[30] Yan SH, Feng S, Xu Y, Yan YZ, He B, Sun LY, et al. Effectiveness of Herbal Medicine for Leukopenia/Neutropenia Induced by Chemo-therapy in Adults with Colorectal Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Integr Cancer Ther 2021; 20:15347354211021654. doi:10.1177/15347354211021654,PMID:34116595.

[31] Shi Z, Song T, Wan Y, Xie J, Yan Y, Shi K, et al. A systematic review and meta-analysis of traditional insect Chinese medicines com-bined chemotherapy for non-surgical hepatocellular carcinoma therapy. Sci Rep 2017; 7(1):4355. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-04351-y,PMID:28659623.

[32] Zhang W, Zhao Y, Liu H, Jing C. Efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine Combined with Chemotherapy in the Treatment of Gastric Cancer: A Meta-analysis. Comput Math Methods Med 2022; 2022:8497084. doi:10.1155/2022/8497084,PMID:35966237.

[33] Wang Q, Ye H, Wang QQ, Li WT, Yu BB, Bai YM, et al. Chinese Herbal Medicine for Chemotherapy-Induced Leukopenia: A Sys-tematic Review and Meta-Analysis of High-Quality Randomized Controlled Trials. Front Pharmacol 2021;12:573500. doi:10.3389/fphar.2021.573500,PMID:34017246.

[34] Lettner S, Kessel KA, Combs SE. Complementary and alternative medicine in radiation oncology : Survey of patients’ attitudes. Strahl-enther Onkol 2017; 193(5):419-425. doi:10.1007/s00066-017-1101-5,PMID:28130601.

[35] Hughes J, Gyertson K, Carballo L, Plant H, Sharman M, Ruane K, et al. A feasibility trial of acupuncture in cancer patients undergoing ra-diotherapy treatment. Complement Ther Clin Pract 2021;43:101372. doi:10.1016/j.ctcp.2021.101372,PMID:33839523.

[36] Meng Z, Kay Garcia M, Hu C, Chiang J, Chambers M, Rosenthal DI, et al. Sham-controlled, randomised, feasibility trial of acupuncture for prevention of radiation-induced xerostomia among patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Eur J Cancer 2012; 48(11):1692-1699. doi:10.1016/j.ejca.2011.12.030,PMID:22285177.

[37] Gao X, Wang J, Li M, Wang J, Lv J, Zhang L, et al. Berberine at-tenuates XRCC1-mediated base excision repair and sensitizes breast cancer cells to the chemotherapeutic drugs. J Cell Mol Med 2019; 23(10):6797-6804. doi:10.1111/jcmm.14560,PMID:31338966.

[38] Han AR, Lee S, Han S, Lee YJ, Kim JB, Seo EK, et al. Triterpenoids from the Leaves of Centella asiatica Inhibit Ionizing Radiation-Induced Migration and Invasion of Human Lung Cancer Cells. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2020; 2020:3683460. doi:10.1155/2020/3683460,PMID:33029164.

[39] Ku TC, Wang PH, Huang JL, Chen HY, Fang JT, Hsieh HL, et al. The survival outcome of nasopharyngeal cancer patients with traditional Chinese medicine external use: A hospital-based study. J Ethnop-harmacol 2021;279:114380. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2021.114380,PMID:34197958.

[40] He H, Zhou X, Wang Q, Zhao Y. Does the couse of astragalus-con-taining chinese herbal prescriptions and radiotherapy benefit to non-small-cell lung cancer treatment: a meta-analysis of randomized trials. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2013; 2013:426207. doi:10.1155/2013/426207,PMID:24454494.

[41] Son B, Jun SY, Seo H, Youn H, Yang HJ, Kim W, et al. Inhibitory ef-fect of traditional oriental medicine-derived monoamine oxidase B inhibitor on radioresistance of non-small cell lung cancer. Sci Rep 2016; 6:21986. doi:10.1038/srep21986,PMID:26906215.

[42] Abushukur Y, Cascardo C, Ibrahim Y, Teklehaimanot F, Knackstedt R. Improving Breast Surgery Outcomes Through Alternative Thera-py: A Systematic Review. Cureus 2022; 14(3):e23443. doi:10.7759/cureus.23443,PMID:35481320.

[43] You X, Wang Y, Wu J, Liu Q, Liu Y, Qian Y, et al. Zusanli (ST36) Acu-point Injection with Neostigmine for Paralytic Postoperative Ileus fol-lowing Radical Gastrectomy for Gastric Cancer: a Randomized Clini-cal Trial. J Cancer 2018; 9(13):2266-2274. doi:10.7150/jca.24767,PMID:30026821.

[44] Zhi MW, Dai XJ, Jiang ZW, Xu SS, Li M, Xie RY. Effect of acupoint application therapy at different timing points on gastrointesti-nal function recovery and heart rate variability after laparoscopic resection of colorectal cancer Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2020; 40(9):947-952. doi:10.13703/j.0255-2930.20200327-k0003,PMID:32959589. (in Chinese).

[45] Matovina C, Birkeland AC, Zick S, Shuman AG.Integrative Medicine in Head and Neck Cancer. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2017; 156(2):228-237. doi:10.1177/0194599816671885,PMID:27729559.

[46] Han K, Kim M, Kim EJ, Park YC, Kwon O, Kim AR, et al. Moxibustion for treating cancer-related fatigue: A multicenter, assessor-blinded, randomized controlled clinical trial. Cancer Med 2021; 10(14):4721-4733. doi:10.1002/cam4.4020,PMID:34189864.

[47] Zhang Y, Jia Y, Li X, Wang L, Du M, Zhang X. Clinical Observation on astragalus polysaccharide injection combined with CIK cells treating NSCLC patients with Qi deficiency syndrome Chin Tradi-tional Herbal Drugs 2018; 49(7):1647-1651. doi:10.7501/j.issn.0253-2670.2018.07.024. (in Chinese).

[48] Dymackova R, Kazda T, Slavik M, Selingerova I, Slampa P, Slama O. Acupuncture in the treatment of acute toxicity during and after head and neck cancer radiotherapy: Interim analysis of randomized prospective open-label trial. Biomed Pap Med Fac Univ Palacky Olo-mouc Czech Repub 2020; 164(4):454-460. doi:10.5507/bp.2020.021,PMID:32597419.

[49] Zeng Y, Luo T, Xie H, Huang M, Cheng AS. Health benefits of qigong or tai chi for cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analy-ses. Complement Ther Med 2014; 22(1):173-186. doi:10.1016/j.ctim.2013.11.010, PMID:24559833.

[50] Wayne PM, Lee MS, Novakowski J, Osypiuk K, Ligibel J, Carlson LE, et al. Tai Chi and Qigong for cancer-related symptoms and quality of life: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Cancer Surviv 2018; 12(2):256-267. doi:10.1007/s11764-017-0665-5,PMID:29222705.