The Anti-Cancer Effects and Side Effects of Juanbai (Shishangbai)
Shishangbai, a commonly used herb in TCM oncology, is the whole herb of Selaginella doederleinii of the Selaginellaceae family. Juanbai has a long medicinal history; it was used as medicine as early as the Qin-Han period, and the Shennong Bencaojing lists juanbai as an upper-grade herb. Juanbai is a perennial evergreen herb; the whole plant is rosette-shaped and curls into a ball when dry. It mostly grows on sunny slopes or in rock crevices and is widely distributed throughout the country. Juanbai also has the aliases huanhun cao, jiu-si huanhun cao, da huanhun cao, changsheng busi cao, busi cao, huiyang cao, wansui, shi lianhua, and wannianqing.
TCM holds that juanbai is acrid in taste and neutral in nature, entering the Liver and Heart meridians. It has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, invigorating blood and reducing swelling, and stopping bleeding and generating flesh. Juanbai can be used raw or stir-fried into carbon. Used raw, it invigorates blood and unblocks menstruation, and is indicated for amenorrhea, abdominal concrete masses, and traumatic injuries. Used carbonized, it resolves stasis and stops bleeding, indicated for vomiting blood, epistaxis, bloody stool, and hematuria. Most hemostatic Chinese medicines are used after being stir-fried into carbon, but this “frying into carbon” does not mean frying the herb to ash; rather, fry it yellow or scorched. However, local pharmacies may not have ready-made carbonized juanbai for sale, so we can buy some plain juanbai ourselves and stir-fry it in a pan.
Modern pharmacology has confirmed that juanbai has antibacterial, anti-ulcer, and anti-tumor effects. The apigenin-7-glucoside contained in juanbai has an anti-ulcer effect on gastric ulcers caused by histamine and pyloric ligation, though the effect is weak. Animal experiments have confirmed that the hot-water extract of whole juanbai has a certain inhibitory effect on mouse sarcoma and Ehrlich ascites carcinoma and can prolong the survival of animals with transplanted tumors.
In TCM oncology prescriptions, shishangbai is one of the most commonly used herbs, often used for lung cancer, liver cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer, laryngeal cancer, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, malignant hydatidiform mole, choriocarcinoma, liposarcoma, and many other cancers. When shishangbai enters a decoction, the adult dose is 10–30 grams, with children's dose reduced accordingly. Folk use sometimes exceeds 50 grams; for example, among the anti-cancer folk remedies recorded in the Kangai Bencao, one uses 60 g of shishangbai and 30 g of Bai Hua She She Cao (Oldenlandiae Herba), decocted in water, to treat lung cancer. Shishangbai is not very toxic and rarely causes toxic side effects. But at too large a dose or over too long a course, it may cause poor appetite, dizziness, rash, and hair loss in a few patients. Combining it with spleen-strengthening herbs basically makes these side effects disappear.
Used alone, shishangbai's anti-cancer effect is limited. When used against cancer, it is often combined with Ban Zhi Lian (Scutellariae Barbatae Herba), Bai Hua She She Cao, Qi Ye Yi Zhi Hua (Paris Polyphylla), Shan Dou Gen (Sophorae Tonkinensis Radix), Yi Yi Ren (Coicis Semen), Ku Shen (Sophorae Flavescentis Radix), Huai Hua (Sophorae Flos), and Huai Er (Shaofungii/Trametes).
Shishangbai also has certain hemostatic and anti-ulcer effects, so when nasopharyngeal cancer patients have epistaxis, lung cancer patients hemoptysis, gastric cancer patients gastric bleeding, intestinal cancer patients bloody stool, or cervical cancer patients vaginal bleeding, some shishangbai can be used appropriately. However, TCM rarely uses a single herb to stop bleeding; when shishangbai is used for hemostasis, it should be combined with Xian He Cao (Agrimoniae Herba), Qian Cao (Rubiae Radix), Hua Rui Shi (Osmu lapidis), Bai Ji (Bletillae Rhizoma), Xiao Ji (Cirsii Herba), Feng Wei Cao (Pteris Herba), and Di Yu (Sanguisorbae Radix). Although carbonized frying is said to stop bleeding better, I have found that using it raw also has a certain hemostatic effect.
Because juanbai has a certain blood-invigorating effect, pregnant women must avoid it. Juanbai can also be used externally: grind it into powder and sprinkle it on a wound or abrasion, which has anti-inflammatory and hemostatic effects.