Traditional Chinese Medicine Regulates Tumor-associated Macrophages in Colorectal Cancer： A Review

Abstract:

Colorectal cancer （CRC）， a most common malignant tumor of the digestive tract， is often manifested by abdominal pain， changes in stool quality， blood in the stool， and weight loss， with rising morbidity and mortality year by year. The onset and development of CRC involve a variety of mechanisms， in which tumor microenvironment （TME） and tumor-associated macrophages （TAMs） have received increasing attention. TAMs influence the tumor development via immune escape and angiogenesis promotion and are associated with the prognosis of tumors. In recent years， traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） has been widely researched and applied in the treatment of cancers. Studies have discovered that TCM mainly exerts the therapeutic effects on CRC by inhibiting the proliferation， metastasis， and angiogenesis， promoting the apoptosis， and inducing autophagy of tumor cells and boosting the immune function. TCM as an effective treatment approach can regulate TAMs to inhibit tumor growth. Moreover， the active components and targets of TCM can be taken as new research directions of immunotherapy. This review describes TAMs and their roles in CRC progression and summarizes the molecular targets and mechanisms of different active components， compound prescriptions， and novel preparations of TCM against CRC， aiming to provide a mechanism reference for the clinical treatment of CRC with TCM and give new insights into the in-depth research on the prevention and treatment of CRC-related diseases with TCM.