Elemene, one ingredient of a Chinese herb, against malignant tumors: a literature-based meta-analysis.

We sought to evaluate the efficacy of elemene in cancer treatment. We searched the literature using several databases up to October 2011. Thirty-eight trials met inclusion criteria. The meta-analysis demonstrated that elemene plus chemotherapy was associated with a significant rise in the number of patients who reported improved tumor response, as well as a significant lower risk in patients with leucopenia as compared with chemotherapy alone. However, the pooled results failed to show favorable effects of elemene plus chemotherapy on survival rate compared with chemotherapy alone. This study suggested that elemene might enhance effectiveness of chemotherapy in cancer therapy.