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Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Review of the effects of Chinese Herbal medicine in NSCLC treatment By: Jay Shah December 11, 2013 Pharmacology 5600 Herbal medicine, like any alternative forms of medicine and therapy has its share of critics, but like most herbal medicine, it has been developed and practiced for millennia. The first known record of Chinese herbal medicine was found in the â€Å"Wushier Bingfang† (prescriptions for fifty-two ailments) silk manuscript from the Han Dynasty around 206 BCE (Zhang et al, 2012). It contains two hundred and fifty herbal cures to issues such as hemorrhoids, arthritis, inflammation, seizures, warts and many others (Zhang et al, 2012). Historical records of Chinese herbs include over a hundred thousand medicinal recipes to thousands of issues, mostly consisting of plant extracts (Chen et al, 1999). The understanding behind Chinese herbs is an elemental approach that looks as humans as a component of nature and hence can be cured of ailments through natural elements (Chen et al, 1999). Image 1 depicts various Chinese herbs including, ginseng, Astragalus, lilyturf and others. With the development of allopathic medicine from the western world, herbal medicine from around the world has been castigated out of the mind for the majority of the world due to its lack of proper scientific evidence. Recently however, herbal medicine, especially Chinese and Indian has seen somewhat of a resurgence on the global scale in terms of credibility thanks to new research and data from around the world. The National Institute of Health recognizes Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) as a viable source of alternative treatment for various ailments and says that over a million people as of 2004 regu... ..., Zhang L, et al. (2011) Effect s of chemotherapy combined with Chinese herbal medicine Kangliu Zengxiao decoction on tumor markers of patient s with advanced non-small cell lung cancer: a randomized, controlled trial. J Chin Integr Med 9: 525–530. 11. Li G, Shu-Ping B, Ling Z, Xiao-Hong W (2009). Astragalus polysaccharide injection integrated with vinorelbine and cisplatin for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer: effects on quality of life and survival. Journal of Medical Oncology s12032-011-0068-9. 12. Liu QY, Yao YM, Zhang SW, et al. Astragalus polysaccharides regulate T cell-mediated immunity via CD11c (high) CD45RB (low) DCs in vitro. J Ethnopharmacol. 2011; 136(3):457–64. 13. Clement-Kruzel S, Hwang SA, Kruzel MC, et al. Immune modulation of macrophage pro-inflammatory response by goldenseal and Astragalus extracts. J Med Food. 2008; 11(3):493–8.