Interactions Between Traditional Chinese Medicine and Anticancer Drugs in Chemotherapy

Herbal medicines, including traditional Chinese medicines(TCMs), have been used in Eastern countries for treating diseases such as cancer for thousands of years. With the growing knowledge of tumorigenesis and cancer therapy, some natural compounds have been developed as clinical anticancer drugs. In addition, many compounds and TCMs have been characterized as complementary and alternative treatments,with synergetic effects on enhancing the efficacy or reducing the side effects of the therapeutics. In this review, we summarized the recent studies focusing on the combination of natural compounds or TCM decoction with chemotherapeutics. The detailed mechanisms of action of the combinations and the application of analytical methods on TCM development are also discussed.