Chinese Medicine Formula Shows Promising Results in Cancer Treatment

Lisa Franchi November 11, 2013

Scientists from Perking and Cardiff University have discovered how a formula of traditional Chinese medicine works to stop cancer from spreading. This breakthrough provides hope for developing more treatments to treat such life-threatening disease.

“Ancient medicine, modern thinking”

The research team, headed by Prof Wen Jiang from Cardiff University, described the groundbreaking findings as "ancient medicine, modern thinking". In 2012, his team joined forces with Perking University to investigate the health benefits of a Chinese medicine called Yangzheng Xiaoji.

The formula, which consists of 14 herbs, has been known to help treat cancer but it was not clear until today how exactly it works. The new findings reveal that the formula blocks a pathway, preventing the spread of cancer cells in the body.

"Traditional Chinese medicine where compounds are extracted from natural products or herbs have been practised for centuries in China, Korea, Japan and other countries in Asia.” Prof Jiang told BBC. The research team is excited to see how the herbal formula, when combined with standard treatments for cancer (such as chemotherapy), could result in positive outcome for patients. Prof Jiang added that the Chinese formula was shown to be beneficial for cancer patients with solid tumours, when used alone or in combination with conventional treatments.

Currently, the team is conducting clinical trials on lung and other cancers using the Chinese formula and conventional medicine, and said trials were providing positive results. The challenge right now is that many people are still sceptical about the potential healing effects of TCM. "Although a few successes, most of the traditional remedies are short of scientific explanation which has inevitably led to scepticism - especially amongst traditionalists in the West.” said Prof Jiang.

Earlier this year, a team from the University of Western Sydney in Australia and the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine in China conducted a large-scale review of thousands of studies using hundreds of thousands of cancer patients and found that Chinese herbal medicine offers significant benefits in the treatment of most cancers, including breast cancer.

Source of this article:

Cardiff-Peking universities: Chinese medicine cancer treatment hope