Synergistic Effect and Molecular Mechanisms of Traditional Chinese Medicine on Regulating Tumor Microenvironment and Cancer Cells

Figure 1

The confirmed mechanism of TCM on tumor cells and microenvironment. TCM can inhibit “seeds” and regulate “soil” to suppress tumor development and recurrence via diverse ways. The mechanism of TCM inhibiting tumor “seeds” includes inhibiting growth, invasion, metastasis of cancer cells, and reversing immunosuppressive phenotypes and drug resistance. Meanwhile, TCM regulates “soil” through remodeling immunosuppressive microenvironment, hypoxia microenvironment, and angiogenesis/lymphangiogenesis, and ECM are also reversed when treated by TCM.