title: Chinese herbal medicines in the treatment of IBD and colorectal cancer: a review.
abstract: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are a group of chronic inflammatory gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, mainly represented by Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Although the etiology of IBD is not fully understood, there is substantial evidence that immunologic, genetic, and environmental factors are the main contributors in IBD pathogenesis. Conventional therapies for IBD include anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive drugs, such as 5-aminosalicylic acid, corticosteroids, antibiotics, and biologicals, such as anti-TNFα antibodies. However, because of low efficacy and high risk of side effects, there is a clear need for the development of novel and efficient pharmacologic strategies in IBD treatment. Among various complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) approaches, which are used for the treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is one of the most developed and diversified. TCM encompasses methods and therapies that emerged over centuries and is based mostly on ethnic wisdom and observations transmitted from generation to generation. In the recent years, the efficacy of TCM as treatment of IBD has been extensively characterized in preclinical and clinical studies, which resulted in a significant number of research reports. Moreover, the popularity of TCM among patients with IBD has rapidly increased not only in Asia, but also in the Western hemisphere.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Lodz, Mazowiecka 6/8, 92-215, Lodz, Poland.
authors.forename: Maciej
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sałaga
authors.forename: Hubert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zatorski
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sobczak
authors.forename: Chunqiu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jakub
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fichna
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal