Traditional Chinese Medicine in Regulating Tumor Microenvironment

Abstract

Tumor microenvironment (TME) is a complex and integrated system containing a variety of tumor-infiltrating immune cells and stromal cells. They are closely connected with cancer cells and influence the development and progression of cancer. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an important complementary therapy for cancer treatment in China. It mainly eliminates cancer cells by regulating TME. The aim of this review is to systematically summarize the crosstalk between tumor cells and TME, and to summarize the research progress of TCM in regulating TME. The review is of great significance in revealing the therapeutic mechanism of action of TCM, and provides an opportunity for the combined application of TCM and immunotherapy in cancer treatment.

Keywords:

• cancer
• tumor microenvironment
• traditional Chinese medicine
• anti-tumor effects

Abbreviations

TME, Tumor microenvironment; TCM, Traditional Chinese medicine; TAM, Tumor-associated macrophages; MDSCs, Myeloid-derived suppressor cells; TAN, Tumor-associated neutrophils; NK, Natural killer cells; DCs, Dendritic cells; VEGF, Endothelial growth factor; EGF, Epidermal growth factor; TGF-β, Transforming growth factor-β; PDGF, Platelet derived growth factor; PMN-MDSCs, Polymorphonuclear MDSCs; M-MDSC, Monocyte-like MDSC; ROS, Reactive oxygen species; MPO, Myeloperoxidase; IFN-β, Interferon-β; MMP-9, Matrix metalloproteinase-9; Th, Helper T cell; nTregs, Regulatory T cell; iTregs, Induced regulatory T cell; CTL, Cytotoxic T cell; Tm, Memory T cell; TCR, T cell receptor; TLSs, Tertiary lymphoid structures; PCs, Plasma cell; APS, Astragalus polysaccharide; LNT, Lentinan; CACRC, Colitis-associated colorectal cancer; AMPK, AMP-activated protein kinase; GC, Gastric cancer; CRC, colorectal cancer; LC, Lung cancer; ALL, acute lymphoblastic leukemia; BC, Breast cancer.

Disclosure

The authors declare no conflict of interest, financial or otherwise.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82122075, 82074232), Shanghai Pujiang Program (23PJ1412400), “Shu Guang” project supported by Shanghai Municipal Education Commission and Shanghai Education Development Foundation (21SG43), Shanghai Frontier Research Base of Disease and Syndrome Biology of Inflammatory Cancer Trans-formation (2021KJ03-12), Three-year Plan Project of Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine (ZY(2021-2023)-0208) and Shanghai Youth Talent Support Program.