EFFECT OF SHUNQI YIWEI DECOCTION COMBINED WITH SOX CHEMOTHERAPY ON ADVANCED GASTRIC CANCER

Li De-Hui^*, Su Yi-Fan, Sun Chun-Xia, Fan Huan-Fang^*

Hebei Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University of Chinese Medicine, Shijiazhuang, 050011, China

Objective: To explore the clinical effect of Shunqi Yiwei decoction combined with sox chemotherapy on advanced gastric cancer and effect on serum tumor markers and th1/th2 cytokine balance in peripheral blood serum of patients with liver depression-spleen deficiency syndrome.

Methods: A total of 60 advanced gastric cancer patients with liver depression-spleen deficiency syndrome met the inclusion criteria and were andomly divided into the control group (n=30) and treatment group (n=30). The control group was treated with sox chemotherapy, the treatment group was treated with the same basic treatment plus Shunqi Yiwei decoction, One treatment cycle was defined as 3 weeks. The clinical efficacy, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) symptom score, Karnofsky performance score (KPS), serum tumor markers (CEA, CA199 and CA125), peripheral th1 cytokines (IL-2 and IFN-γ) and th2 cytokines (IL-6 and IL-10), and side effects were compared between two groups after 2 cycles of therapy.

Results: Comparisons of the TCM symptom score, KPS and the serum tumor marker levels (CEA, CA199 and CA125) before and after treatment in each group showed significantly decreased (all p<0.01), there was an obvious increase in peripheral th1 cytokines (IL-2 and IFN-γ) of each group (pretreatment vs posttreatment, P<0.01), th2 cytokines (IL-6 and IL-10) were significantly reduced (pretreatment vs posttreatment, P<0.01). Compared with the control group, the efficacy in the treatment group was significantly improved (p<0.05), TCM symptom score, KPS and the serum tumor marker levels (CEA, CA199 and CA125) in the treatment group were notable decreased(p<0.05), peripheral th1 cytokines (IL-2 and IFN-γ) in the treatment group were increased (p<0.05), correspondingly, a significant decrease of th2 cytokines (IL-6 and IL-10) in the treatment group (p<0.05), and side effects (gastrointestinal reactions, myelosuppression and liver dysfunction) in the treatment group were decreased(p<0.01or p<0.05).

Conclusion: Shunqi Yiwei decoction combined with sox chemotherapy can improve clinical effect, TCM symptom, quality of life and reduce adverse reactions of chemotherapy of advanced gastric cancer patients with liver depression-spleen deficiency syndrome. The underlying mechanism may be related with the down-regulation of the serum tumor marker levels (CEA, CA199 and CA125) and the balance regulation of Th1/Th2