A Prospective Randomized Control Study of Cidan Capsule Combined With Transcatheter Arterial Chemoembolization in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignances seen in different regions of the world. Surgical resection provides the best chance of cure for selected patients. However, we have long been perplexed by high rates of tumor recurrence, which is often the main cause of long-term treatment failure. The 5-year risk of recurrence of HCC after resection has been reported to be as high as 70%. It has been proposed that best way to reduce recurrence is to search for improved adjuvant therapies. Especially for some postoperative patients who were identified with the risk factors for recurrence, several adjuvant therapies were often used, including TACE. However, the safy and efficacy of preventive therapy is still not clear.

Recently, a variety of Traditional Chinese Medicine combined with TACE for toxicity reduction and enhancing the efficacy have been investigated in the treatment of HCC. Cidan capsules are a formula containing more than ten types of plant extracts, including Rhizoma Curcumae (19%), Astragalus (19.6%), Cremastra appendiculata (9.8%), Salvia miltiorrhiza (9.8%), hive (9.8%) and Bombyx batryticatus (9.8%). Cidan has been clinically used for >10 years as a safe and nontoxic antitumor drug. A number of studies have investigated the clinical application of TCMs for HCC, demonstrating that β-elemene, which is present in Rhizoma Curcumae and the main component of cidan, may inhibit the proliferation of HepG2 cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. The results indicated that β-elemene exhibited positive effects on apoptosis and induced the cell cycle arrest of HepG2 cells in the G2/M phase, while Fas and Fas ligand expression levels were markedly increased.

In this prospective control study, we enroll such HCC patients experienced operation and were identifed with high risk of recurrence. After a preventive TACE, the eligible patients were divided into two groups. One group will accept Cidan therapy and another will not. Under a basis of large sample, the safty and efficacy of Cidan combined with TACE in HCC patients will be investigated and analysed.