ABSTRACT
Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in the digestive system， and precancerous lesion of gastric cancer （PLGC） represents a long-term stage in the process of malignant development of normal gastric mucosa into gastric cancer. Gastric cancer and precancerous lesions are difficult to cure clinically， leaving poor prognosis and a serious negative impact on the quality of daily life of patients. In recent years， studies on cell autophagy have been at the forefront of the natural life science. Regulating autophagy to treat precancerous lesions and prevent gastric cancer has become nowadays a hot topic. Autophagy is a process in which cells enclose some redundant or damaged cytoplasm， proteins and organelles to form autophagosomes， and bind to lysosomes to degrade the contents. Autophagy has bidirectional effect on different cells and different stages of the same cell. Autophagy at a lower level can kill cancer cells， while autophagy can promote the growth and proliferation of cancer cells under stress conditions such as hypoxia， hunger and infection， or when autophagy clears damaged proteins in cells and organelle function is abnormal. Traditional Chinese medicine（TCM）， which has low toxicity and easy acceptance by patients， has a positive effect on the treatment of gastric cancer and PLGC. At present， studies on the prevention and treatment of gastric cancer and PLGC by TCM have been carried out in depth with cell autophagy as the breakthrough point. More and more research results have confirmed that TCM can regulate the autophagy process of gastric cancer cells and play an anti-tumor role by interfering with various autophagy related genes， signal pathways and organelles. This paper summarizes the studies on the regulation of cell autophagy by TCM in the treatment of gastric cancer and precancerous lesions， so as to provide references for future studies on the regulation of autophagy by TCM.