Mechanism of Action of Traditional Chinese Medicine Against Prostatic Carcinoma： A Review / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

Prostatic carcinoma （PCa） is one of the most common male malignancies， accounting for 10% of all male cancers， and has become a global health problem. At present， it is mainly tackled with radical prostatectomy and endocrine therapy. However， most patients will develop drug resistance， allowing the progression of PCa into castration-resistant prostate cancer （CRPC）. Guided by the principles of holism and treatment based on syndrome differentiation， traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） alleviates cancer pain， regulates immune balance， and improves the quality of life of patients via multiple targets， multiple pathways， and multiple mechanisms without inducing obvious side effects， thus better exerting the preventive and therapeutic effects against PCa. This paper retrieved relevant articles concerning PCa intervention with TCM published in recent five years from PubMed and China National Knowledge Infrastructure （CNKI）， and summarized the molecular mechanism of PCa， its etiology and pathogenesis in TCM， and TCM interventions. The findings showed that the active ingredients of Chinese medicinals， single Chinese medicinals and Chinese medicinal compounds inhibited PCa by interfering with not only the classical pathways of PCa such as androgen receptor（AR）， Wnt/β-catenin， PI3K/Akt/mTOR， and NF-κB but also other pathways like ERS/UPR， RIPK， CIP2A/PP2A/ERK， EGFR， etc. The intervention of active ingredients from Chinese medicinals in PCa has been explored extensively， but there are fewer studies on single Chinese medicinals and Chinese medicinal compounds that can better reflect the unique advantages of TCM. Further research is needed to provide an important theoretical and experimental basis for the development of novel anti-PCa Chinese medicinal products and their clinical application.