Regulation of Signaling Pathways Associated with Gastric Cancer by Chinese Medicine： A Review / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

Gastric cancer is a common malignant tumor of the gastrointestinal tract， with the pathogenesis remains to be fully elucidated. Although surgery， radiotherapy， chemotherapy， targeted therapy， and immunotherapy have demonstrated obvious clinical efficacy in the treatment of gastric cancer， the patients suffer from complications and adverse effects. Basic experiments and clinical studies have proved that Chinese medicine can treat gastric cancer in a multi-component and multi-target manner， the mechanisms of which remain to be deciphered. Therefore， the mechanism of Chinese medicine against gastric cancer needs to be unveiled by network pharmacology and tools of molecular biology. According to Chinese medicine， the occurrence of gastric cancer is mainly attributed to liver Qi stagnation， phlegm stasis and Qi stagnation， body fluid deficiency and heat accumulation， deficiency of healthy Qi， and cancer toxin accumulation. According to the available literature， herbal compound formulas such as Sancao Tiaowei decoction， Xiaojianzhong decoction， and Yiqi Huayu Jiedu decoction focus on tonifying， clearing heat， and detoxifying， while herbal active components are mainly insecticidal， heat-clearing， blood-activating， stasis-removing， and Qi-regulating drugs. The therapeutic effects of these Chinese medicines are consistent with the etiology and pathogenesis of gastric cancer. It has been demonstrated that Chinese medicines play a role in promoting apoptosis and autophagy， blocking cell cycle， and reversing cellular drug resistance to treat gastric cancer by regulating phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase/protein kinase B （PI3K/Akt）， mitogen-activated protein kinase （MAPK）， nuclear factor-kappa B （NF-κB）， transforming growth factor-β （TGF-β）/Smad， Wnt/β-catenin， and Hedgehog signaling pathways， while there is a lack of systematic understanding. By systematically summarizing the signaling pathways related to the regulation of gastric cancer by Chinese medicine， this study aims to clarify the molecular mechanisms of Chinese medicine against the development， invasion， and metastasis of gastric cancer， with a view to providing new targets， perspectives， and ideas for the treatment of gastric cancer and promoting the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine.