Monomer Components of Chinese Herbal Medicines Regulate PI3K/Akt Signaling Pathway to Inhibit Bladder Cancer： A Review / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

Bladder cancer is the most prevalent malignant tumor in the urinary tract in China. Western medical treatments， including long-term regular endoscopy， intravesical chemotherapy， immunotherapy， and radical cystectomy， are effective， whereas the high recurrence rate still plagues both doctors and patients. Among the classical signaling pathways involved in the formation and progression of bladder cancer， the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase （PI3K）/protein kinase B （Akt） signaling pathway is a key one. Modern pharmacological studies have demonstrated that Chinese herbal medicines and their monomer components can alleviate the discomfort， prolong the survival， and improve the quality of life of the patients undergoing tumor treatment. The relevant literature in the past decade has revealed that flavonoids， terpenoids， polysaccharides， gambogic acids， bibenzyls， and alkaloids from Chinese herbal medicines regulate the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway to play a role in the proliferation， apoptosis， invasion， migration， drug resistance， and autophagy of bladder cancer cells， thereby exerting the activity against bladder cancer. Although some targets and the potential mechanisms of the monomer components in the treatment of bladder cancer have been clarified， the research on the monomer components is limited to in vitro cellular experiments and animal experiments. Researchers face the great challenge in the application of the monomer components from Chinese herbal medicines into clinical practice. We summarized the recent studies about the regulatory effects of monomer components from Chinese herbal medicines on the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in bladder cancer， aiming to give insights into the research on the drug therapy of bladder cancer and the underlying mechanism.