The Anti-Cancer Effects and Side Effects of the Chinese Herb Yadanzi (Brucea Fructus)

The Chinese herb Yadanzi is the dried ripe fruit of Brucea javanica of the Simaroubaceae family, mainly produced in China's Guangdong and Guangxi regions. In those two regions there are also many folk single-subject recipes using it to treat cancer.

I once treated a cancer patient from Guilin. When he sought local care, a local doctor had told him to swallow Yadanzi wrapped in longan flesh.

But Yadanzi is an extremely bitter-cold herb that damages the gastrointestinal tract and the liver and kidneys to some degree, so it easily causes problems. After the patient took the folk remedy of Yadanzi wrapped in longan flesh for some time, he could take neither food nor water, and became so severe he was bedridden. Later I gave him Xiao Jianzhong Tang (Minor Center-Firming Decoction: Guizhi 9 g, Zhi Gan Cao 6 g, Da Zao 7 pieces, Bai Shao 18 g, Sheng Jiang 3–5 slices, malt sugar 60 g); after several days his appetite gradually recovered, and after a week he could go out.

Not only folk doctors use Yadanzi against cancer; nowadays TCM and Western doctors in hospitals both prescribe Yadanzi oil oral emulsion or Yadanzi oil emulsion injection to cancer patients, because modern pharmacology has confirmed the anti-cancer effect of Yadanzi oil emulsion.

But from my actual observation, the incidence of Yadanzi side effects is very high. Whether swallowed directly or wrapped in longan flesh, or taken as Yadanzi oil oral emulsion or Yadanzi oil emulsion injection, it damages the patient's stomach-intestines, liver, and kidneys, with symptoms mostly of nausea, poor appetite, aversion to greasy food, and rash. Can all patients who develop these side effects be treated with Xiao Jianzhong Tang? I dare not assert it without extensive clinical practice, but judging from the adverse reactions, Xiao Jianzhong Tang should generally be usable. So I venture to set down this small experience for everyone's reference.

There are also reports that Yadanzi may cause dizziness, fatigue, bloody stool, gastrointestinal congestion, reduced urine output, elevated body temperature, conjunctival congestion, numbness of the limbs and even paralysis, coma, and convulsions. Applied locally, it is also highly irritating to skin and mucous membranes, and individual patients have allergic reactions. Side effects like these are beyond what a formula like Xiao Jianzhong Tang can solve; one should seek medical attention promptly.

Animal and human experiments have confirmed that Yadanzi oil inhibits many tumors and has a certain damaging or inhibitory effect on the G1, S, and G2 phases of cancer cells. The small oil droplets of Yadanzi oil emulsion are selective and targeted toward tumor cells; after administration the drug concentration is concentrated and has specific, tight affinity with cancer cells. Moreover, the main component of Yadanzi oil emulsion, oleic acid, can cross the blood-brain-spinal-cord barrier, raising intracranial drug concentration. So clinicians mostly use it to treat brain tumors, lung cancer, lung cancer with brain metastasis, gastrointestinal tumors, and liver tumors. Combining Yadanzi with radiotherapy can markedly relieve dysphagia in esophageal cancer patients; using Yadanzi together with chemotherapy also sensitizes to chemotherapy; and Yadanzi can reverse the resistance of multiple chemotherapy drugs or targeted drugs.

Traditional TCM holds that Yadanzi is bitter, cold, and slightly toxic, entering the Large Intestine and Liver meridians, with the main effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, stopping dysentery, and stopping malaria; applied externally it can corrode excrescences. Clinically it treats heat-toxin bloody dysentery and long-standing cold accumulation dysentery, and also malaria, though its anti-malarial effect is certainly inferior to artemisinin, so this effect is now seldom used. After being crushed, the kernel of Yadanzi has a certain caustic effect externally and can treat warts and corns; it may be crushed and applied directly to the affected area, or Yadanzi oil may be applied topically.

When taken internally, Yadanzi does not enter a decoction because its active constituents are water-insoluble; so it is usually swallowed directly wrapped in longan flesh, or the powder is loaded into empty capsules for swallowing, 0.5–2 g each time. Yadanzi is extremely bitter and easily causes bleeding, so pregnant women and children should use it cautiously, and patients with a weak spleen-stomach and indigestion should avoid it. Yadanzi should not be taken long term or in large amounts, to avoid damaging the stomach, liver, and kidneys.