Table 3.

Berberine combined with chemotherapy drugs.

Combined With	Cells	Mechnisms/Effect	Reference
2-deoxy-D-glucose	Human lymphoblastoid TK6 cells	BBR combined with the glucose analog 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-dG) synergistic inducing the apoptosis of human lymphoblastoid TK6 cells	Halicka et al., 2017
5-Fluorouracil	Gastric cancer cells AGS	BBR sensitized gastric cancer cells to 5-FU, the combination shows a synergistic inhibition of surviving and STAT3 level	Pandey et al., 2015
Cinnamaldehyde	Lung carcinogenesis A549 cell	BBR combined with cinnamaldehyde prevented A549 cell substance permeability via AMPK-reduced AQP-1 expression	Meng et al., 2017
Cisplatin	Breast cancer MCF-7	BBR sensitized MCF-7 cells to cisplatin through inducing DNA breaks and caspase-3-dependent apoptosis	Zhao et al., 2016
D-limonene	Human gastric carcinoma cell line MGC803	BBR in combination with d-limonene showed synergistic anticancer effects on MGC803 cells through inducing cell-cycle arrest, ROS production, and apoptosis via the mitochondria-mediated intrinsic pathway	Zhang et al., 2014
Doxorubicin	Murine melanoma B16F10 cells	BBR combined with Doxorubicin inhibit melanoma tumor growth through casepase-3 depentdent apoptosis	Mittal et al., 2014
	Lung cancer cell lines	BBR sensitizes lung cancer cells to Doxorubicin by promoting STAT3 degradation, inhibiting doxorubicin mediated STAT3 activation.	Zhu et al., 2015
Evodiamine	Breast cancer MCF-7	BBR in combination with evodiamine inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, further inhibit MCF-7 prolieration	Du et al., 2017
Hsp90 inhibitor NVP-AUY922	Colorectal cancer	BBR combined with NVP-AUY922 inhibit proliferation of colorectal cancer via mutiple pathways	Su et al., 2015
Metformin	NSCLC	BBR combined with metformin synergistic induced cell cycle arrest, as well as reduced migration and invasion of NSCLC cells	Zheng et al., 2018
Rapamycin	Human hepatoma cell SMMC7721 cells	BBR combined with rapamycin can improve HCC therapy through inhibiting the mTOR signaling pathway	Guo et al., 2014
S-allyl-cysteine (SAC)	Human liver cancer HepG2 cells	BBR combined with SAC effectively reduced Rb-phosphorylation resulting insignificant nuclear E2F presence, further inhibiting cancer cell proliferation	Sengupta et al., 2017
	DEN+CCl4 induced hepatocarcinoma	BBR in combination with SAC inhibited Akt mediated cell proliferation, and inducing PP2A/JNK mediated apoptosis.	Sengupta et al., 2014
Sorafenib	Human liver cancer SMMC-7721 and HepG2 cells	berberine combined with sorafenib inhibited the proliferation of liver cancer cells by inducing cancer cell apoptosis.	Huang Y. et al., 2018
Tamoxifen	Breast cancer MCF-7	BBR sensitized MCF-7 cells to tamoxifen via inducing the G1 phase arrest and activating apoptosis.	Wen et al., 2016
Tetrahydropalmatine	MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells	BBR combined with tetrahydropalmatine synergistic inhibited the proliferation of MDA-MB-231	Zhao et al., 2014
TPD7	T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell	BBR combined with TPD7 induced G1 -phase cell-cycle arrest of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell.	Ma et al., 2017