Is "horse bell acid causing liver cancer" a real hammer or a misreading?

(Reporter Cao Xiuying) first a "new study for the first time proved that Chinese medicine in the horse bell acid causes liver cancer" news spread widely on social media. The "latest study" refers to a paper published in hepatology, an international journal in the field of liver disease by Han Zeguang, a professor at the Shanghai YSC Institute of Systems Biomedical Research. The study was highlighted by many media as "a real hammer for liver cancer caused by horse bell acid".
a few days later, Yan Yang, a researcher at Shanghai Nye University Medical College, wrote that "the real hammer" needs to be carried again: horse bell acid causing liver cancer? The article holds that the existing research data Chinese not enough to give a definitive answer as to whether the incidence of hepatitis cancer in adulthood is mainly caused by horse bell acid.
important progress has been made in the latest experiment on horse bell acid? Is horse bell acid really the main culprit for the high incidence of liver cancer in China? This reporter interviewed Han Zeguang, Yan Yang and other researchers.Simple, Han Zeguang's team's research revealed that the use of horse bell acid alone can cause liver cancer in mice, showing dose dependence, that is, the larger the dose of horse bell acid, the shorter the time to cause liver cancer, and the larger the tumor.
When marmachine acid is used in combination with the liver damage drug carbon tetrachloride, it can induce liver cancer in mice, including liver cell carcinoma, as well as combined liver cells and endo-liver bile tube cancer, more quickly through dose dependence.
's comprehensive genomic analysis showed that marmaid acid can cause DNA damage in the liver of mice and form a combination of DNA, which can lead to mutations in the characteristic adenine to thymus that cause liver cancer and activate mutations in the cancer-causing gene Hras.
, in 2012, when Han Zeguang's team studied genome variants in liver cancer, they found that 4 out of 10 patients had A>T/T>A mutations, suggesting that it might be related to the exposure of marmatic acid. In 2013, researchers in Singapore, the United States and other places found the A>T/T>A characteristic mutation spectrum, believed to be the horse's bell acid fingerprint, in genomic data from patients with urethra cancer exposed to horse bell acid. At the same time, the fingerprint was used to reanalyse the genome data of 88 published cases of chinese liver cancer and found that 10 cases had similar fingerprints, supporting the possible risk of liver cancer.
greater impact is a 2017 study published in Science: Translational Medicine. In the study, a team of researchers from Singapore and other places analyzed 98 liver cancer samples from Taiwan and found that 78% of the characteristic A>T/T>A mutations, or horse-bell acid fingerprints, were found.
these studies, however, support the idea that horse bell acid causes liver cancer in terms of genomic mutation characteristics and statistical analysis, and there is no direct evidence that horse bell acid causes liver cancer.
"our latest study provides direct evidence. In addition to animal experiments, the researchers found that in 25.8 percent of randomly selected Chinese patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, a horse's bell acid-DNA addition was detected in the liver tissue next to cancer, Han said. In addition, the cloning analysis found that the mutation of adenine to thymus caused by horse's bell acid appeared in the early stages of the evolution of malignant cloning, indicating that horse's bell acid is the key to malignant cell transformation., does this mean that horse bell acid can cause liver cancer?
, Yan Yang and others believe that the data obtained by Han Zeguang's team under this particular experimental condition is not enough to draw the conclusion that horse bell acid is liver cancer, and cannot be called a "solid hammer".
"specific experimental conditions" refers to the experimental subjects are young mice, as well as carbon tetrachloride liver damage model.
" has previously been published internationally in accordance with the animal carcinogenic experiments carried out in the relevant research papers, all show that adult animals after the horse bell acid drug treatment of the liver did not appear tumors. One of the most important differences between Han Zeguang's experiments and previous studies is that the mice used in the cancer-causing experiment were 2 weeks old (the mice were still breastfeeding, equivalent to one or two years old in humans), while previously reported studies have used adult animals, and the cancer-causing target organs are the urinary system rather than the liver, i.e. adult animals were given horse bell acid alone without observing liver tumors.
"adults Chinese liver cancer is mainly caused by the intake of horse bell acid? "Yang believes that the available research data are not enough to give a definitive answer. Another point that needs attention to this paper is the experimental design of pre-treatment of carbon tetrachloride before drug use in animals. Carbon tetrachloride is commonly used in animal experimental liver damage molding, and the results show that the intake of horse bell acid when the liver is damaged is more likely to cause cancer than in non-injury states. Therefore, whether liver disease patients can eat drugs containing horse bell acid, need to be studied in depth and urgently. Yu Yang said.
" Now some media interpret Han Zeguang's team's latest experiment as evidence that horse bell acid is the main cause of liver cancer in China, but it should be noted that the original literature is in young mice (equivalent to 1-2 years old infants) and carbon tetrachlorinated liver injury model to make the phenomenon of horse bell acid liver cancer This is not the same as the clinical occurrence of liver cancer, and many independent studies have been published in the world over the years, have not made the results of horse bell acid liver cancer in adult mice, so it is too early to think that horse bell acid is the main cause of liver cancer in China's 'real hammer has fallen', I hope the media can rational analysis and dissemination. Wang Gaber, deputy director of the Fifth Medical Center/Army Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine of the PLA General Hospital, stressed to Science and Technology Daily.the related research on liver cancer caused by
" horse's bell acid has attracted much attention because for a long time, the incidence of liver cancer in China is higher than in Europe and the United States, past and current research believes that this is mainly due to the hepatitis virus, which is also the basic basis for guiding the development of public health policy for the prevention and control of liver cancer in China. Wang said that this is the focus of his concern, "if according to this article and some previous studies in China and Asia liver cancer is mainly related to the use of Chinese herbal medicine, it will probably make a big change in the direction of liver cancer prevention and control in China."
" to focus on the identification of risks to prevent and control, but should also be careful not to be unproven risks to influence public health decisions. Wang said.
medicine is the treasure that our ancestors left us, but only scientific inheritance can give it long-term vitality. "Yu Yang stressed that the safety of the drug in the study is not to deny Chinese medicine, but precisely to better pass on, neither because some of the ingredients have potential carcinogenic toxicity, but to general, because of waste food, can not be long-term people's doubts or hidden dangers do not give a clear answer." We should apply modern technical means to clarify the toxicity system, carry out risk assessment, find scientific methods of use, in order to make Chinese medicine better inherited and developed. Yu Yang said.