The Application and Pathway Regulation of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Lung Cancer Treatment: An Exploratory Review

Abstract

Lung cancer is one of the cancers with the highest mortality rate. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for 85% of lung cancer cases and is often diagnosed at an advanced stage with a poor prognosis. Due to the lack of effective molecular targets, the current clinical cure rate is low, and the recurrence rate is high. Recent studies have found that active components of traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese herbal formulas can inhibit the development of NSCLC through multiple pathways and targets, effectively reducing its metastasis and recurrence rates, improving treatment side effects, and compensating for the deficiencies in drug resistance. Although treatments such as surgery, radiotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy have achieved better clinical efficacy in treating lung cancer, they still have problems such as multiple complications and severe adverse reactions. In recent years, numerous basic and clinical studies have confirmed the good effects of traditional Chinese medicine in treating lung cancer. Traditional Chinese medicine has a synergistic regulatory effect through multiple components, targets, pathways, and channels. The numerous active monomeric components and complex mechanisms of action determine that there are issues such as unclear related mechanisms of action in the prevention and treatment of lung cancer by traditional Chinese medicine. There is an urgent need to elucidate the mechanisms of action of traditional Chinese medicine in intervening lung cancer from the perspective of modern medicine, and at the levels of molecular biology, network pharmacology, etc. This article systematically summarizes the research progress on the regulation of the above-mentioned signaling pathways and the expression of key protein molecules by traditional Chinese medicine monomers or formulas, aiming to clarify the mechanisms of action of traditional Chinese medicine in the progression of lung cancer, and to provide ideas and theoretical basis for the in-depth study and clinical application of traditional Chinese medicine in intervening lung cancer.