Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most frequent cancers in the world and its incidence has been increasing recently in countries including the United States of America, western Europe, and eastern Asia [157] . Systemic chemotherapy plays a palliative role while yields unsatisfactory response rates, which is partly due to the poor selectivity and low uptake efficiency of chemotherapeutic drugs in tumor [158] . Since the prognosis of cirrhotic patients seems to be largely influenced by the development of HCC, every attempt should be performed to prevent HCC in such a highrisk group. Oka et al. reported in a randomized controlled trial that a kind of medicinal herb, "Sho-saiko-to" could significantly decrease hepatic carcinogenesis rate in patients wiith cirrhosis [159] . Moreover, a number of clinical and laboratory studies have been done in the past decades in order to provide the scientific basis for the effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine against cancer. However, actually, there are a number of contradictory reports due to various factors, as inconsistency in treatment schemes, limited sampling sizes and lack of quality assurance of the herbal products well-designed randomized controlled trials (RCT). In general, most of the published clinical studies are trials without rigorous randomization or they involved single group pre-post, cohort, time series, or matched case-control studies [160] . Herbs are generally used in combination as "formulas," in the belief that in this way their benefits were enhanced and side effects reduced. Moreover, practitioners can adjust or customize the formulas to suit individual cancer patients. Through synergistic interactions between different effective ingredients, the herbal preparation can exert its effects in several ways: (i) they can protect the noncancerous cells and tissues in the body from the possible damage caused by chemo/radiotherapy; (ii) they can enhance the potency of chemo/radiotherapy; (iii) they can reduce inflammatory and infectious complications in the tissues surrounding the carcinoma; (iv) they can enhance immunity and body resistance; (v) they can improve general condition and quality of life; (vi) they can prolong the life span of the patients in the late stages of cancer [161] .