摘要
OBJECTIVE Ginsenoside Rg3 （Rg3） has shown anti-tumor effects on various tumor cells. It has been widely used in China for non-small cell lung cancer （NSCLC）. However, there are only a few clinical trials to study the effectiveness of Rg3 on NSCLC, and almost them are small- samples, so we performed a meta-analysis on the results of the studies we collected in order to investigate the effectiveness of Rg3 on NSCLC. METHODS A meta-analysis was conducted in all the selected randomized controlled trials evaluating the effectiveness of Rg3 on NSCLC patients. All on-line databases regarding Rg3 from 1950 to 2011 were searched. Supplemental hand searching of the references of retrieved articles was performed. RESULTS Six trials met the inclusion criteria. Four of them compared chemotherapy plus Rg3 with chemotherapy alone, and the other 2 compared chemotherapy plus Rg3 with chemotherapy plus placebo. These trials are homogeneous. Two of the trials report overall survival, but the data are not suitable for a meta-analysis. After meta-analysis was conducted in the included studies comparing the effects of chemotherapy plus Rg3 with that of chemotherapy alone or chemotherapy plus placebo, it was suggested that chemotherapy plus Rg3 increased the response rate [odds ratio： 2.64 （95% Ch 1.70-4.11）, fixed effects model] and disease control rate [odds ratio： 3.34 （95% CI： 1.92-5.81）; fixed effects model] of the patients at stage II-IV, especially for the patients at stage Ill-IV. CONCLUSION Meta-analysis of the available evidence suggests that Rg3 plus chemotherapy improves the response rate of NSCLC patients, and well-designed RCTs with large sample size are needed.
