الفهرس 
Introduction and Aim of the workOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is ranked as the fifth most frequently diagnosed malignancy and the second major common cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Cisplatin (CP) is one of the most highly effective and broadly used therapy in the treatment of numerous human cancers including HCC. On the other hand, the treatment with CP has a problem of having numerous toxic effects. Therefore, recent studies have been done to investigate other methods of treatment, including the use of natural substances to reduce the side effects of chemotherapy. Alpinia officinarum (Family Zingiberaceae) belongs to the ginger family and its origin is China. The plant rhizome is the most medicinally active part of the plant that has vital medical value. Alpinia officinarum rhizome extract (AORE) contains diarylheptanoids, terpenes triterpenoids, phenylbutanoids, lignans, and flavonoids. The aim of the present study is to elucidate the curative effect of AORE in the treatment of HCC and its role as a chemosensitizer to cisplatin (CP) treatment of diethylnitrosamine (DENA)/phenobarbital (PB) induced experimental HCC in a rat model. This was achieved in terms of several biomarkers associated with HCC, particularly those related to oxidative stress, the antioxidant system [thioredoxin (Trx) and glutaredoxin (Grx)] and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level. The present study showed a promising efficacy of AORE as a preventive and a curative supplement for HCC besides its chemosensitizing efficiency in line with CP. This is facilitated by several intracellular pathways, including an enhancement of altered liver function parameters, oxidative stress suppression and modification of antioxidant defense mechanisms. These results may help in the future disciplines to find out new cancer treatment protocols containing phytoceuticals which will open a new era in safer cancer treatment.