Traditional Chinese medicine mediated tumor suppression via regulating psychological factors

Abstract

Chronic psychological stress causes physiological stress and leads to disturbance in the body's internal environment. There is growing evidence that stress can promote cancer biological processes, including proliferation, genomic instability, angiogenesis, metastasis, immune evasion, and metabolic disorders, through neuroendocrine mechanisms, immune and inflammatory responses, and epigenetic alterations, and may even impact tumor therapy. In addition, as the tumor development process advances, the body also promotes depressive and anxiety-like behaviors through one or more of these mechanisms, generating a vicious cycle that contributes to the tumor's poor prognosis. However, psychosomatic behavioral interventions (PBI) and Chinese medicine can also effectively mitigate the effects of stress in cancer patients. In this review, we will explore the potential pathways of stress-tumor interactions.