Lai HC, Lin HJ, Jeng LB, Huang ST. Roles of conventional and complementary therapies in recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2023; 15(1): 19-35 [PMID: 36684056 DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v15.i1.19]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Sheng-Teng Huang, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Staff Physician, Department of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, No. 2 Yude Road, North District, Taichung 40447, Taiwan. sheng.teng@yahoo.com
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Hsiang-Chun Lai, Graduate Institute of Chinese Medicine, School of Chinese Medicine, College of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung 40447, Taiwan
Hsiang-Chun Lai, Hung-Jen Lin, Sheng-Teng Huang, Department of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 40447, Taiwan
Long-Bin Jeng, Organ Transplantation Center, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 40447, Taiwan
Sheng-Teng Huang, School of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung 40447, Taiwan
Sheng-Teng Huang, Cancer Research Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 40447, Taiwan
Sheng-Teng Huang, An-Nan Hospital, China Medical University, Tainan 709204, Taiwan
Author contributions: Lai HC conceptualized, collected data, designed the review and wrote the original draft manuscript; Lin HJ conceptualized and collected data for this article; Jeng LB was responsible for investigation and supervision; Huang ST conceptualized, supervised and reviewed and edited the final manuscript.
Supported byMinistry of Science and Technology of Taiwan, No. NSTC111-2320-B-039-025; China Medical University Hospital, No. DMR-111-005, No. DMR-111-013, No. DMR-111-016, and No. DMR-111-195; and An-Nan Hospital, China Medical University, No. ANHRF-110-25.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Sheng-Teng Huang, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Staff Physician, Department of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, No. 2 Yude Road, North District, Taichung 40447, Taiwan. sheng.teng@yahoo.com
Received: September 16, 2022 Peer-review started: September 16, 2022 First decision: October 19, 2022 Revised: November 3, 2022 Accepted: December 6, 2022 Article in press: December 6, 2022 Published online: January 15, 2023 Processing time: 115 Days and 17.4 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Studies report a recurrence rate for hepatocellular carcinoma of up to 70%-80% after 5 years of follow-up. Controlling tumor recurrence is the most critical factor associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) mortality. Although, conventional salvage therapies, including re-hepatectomy, transcatheter arterial chemoembolization, target therapy, immunotherapy have yet to achieve favorable outcomes. Complementary therapies as an adjuvant treatment modality may strengthen and augment conventional therapies. We herein discuss the molecular mechanisms underlying complementary therapies and the interactions with conventional therapy in recurrent HCC related to augmenting the local control, inhibiting epithelial-mesenchymal transition, migration, invasion, metastasis and cancer stem cells, and by ameliorating drug resistance.
