Recently, a variety of Traditional Chinese Medicine combined with TACE for toxicity reduction and enhancing the efficacy have been investigated in the treatment of HCC. Cidan capsules are a formula containing more than ten types of plant extracts, including Rhizoma Curcumae (19%), Astragalus (19.6%), Cremastra appendiculata (9.8%), Salvia miltiorrhiza (9.8%), hive (9.8%) and Bombyx batryticatus (9.8%). Cidan has been clinically used for >10 years as a safe and nontoxic antitumor drug. A number of studies have investigated the clinical application of TCMs for HCC, demonstrating that β‑elemene, which is present in Rhizoma Curcumae and the main component of cidan, may inhibit the proliferation of HepG2 cells in a time‑ and dose‑dependent manner. The results indicated that β‑elemene exhibited positive effects on apoptosis and induced the cell cycle arrest of HepG2 cells in the G2/M phase, while Fas and Fas ligand expression levels were markedly increased.