Traditional Chinese medicine for regulating glycolysis to remodel the tumor immune microenvironment: research progress and future prospects.
10.12122/j.issn.1673-4254.2025.10.24
- Author:
Songqi HE
1
;
Yang LIU
1
;
Mengchen QIN
1
;
Chunyu HE
1
;
Wentao JIANG
1
;
Yiqin WANG
1
;
Sirui TAN
1
;
Haiyan SUN
1
;
Haitao SUN
1
Author Information
1. School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.
- Publication Type:English Abstract
- Keywords:
glycolysis;
immune evasion;
immunotherapy;
metabolic reprogramming;
traditional Chinese medicine;
tumor immune microenvironment
- MeSH:
Humans;
Tumor Microenvironment/immunology*;
Glycolysis/drug effects*;
Neoplasms/drug therapy*;
Medicine, Chinese Traditional;
Signal Transduction;
Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology*
- From:
Journal of Southern Medical University
2025;45(10):2277-2284
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Immune suppression in the tumor microenvironment (TME) is closely related to abnormal glycolysis. Tumor cells gain metabolic advantages and suppress immune responses through the "Warburg effect". Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been shown to regulate key glycolysis enzymes (such as HK2 and PKM2), metabolic signaling pathways (such as PI3K/AKT/mTOR, HIF-1α) and non-coding RNAs at multiple targets, thus synergistically inhibiting lactate accumulation, improving vascular abnormalities, and relieving metabolic inhibition of immune cells. Studies have shown that TCM monomers and formulas can promote immune cell infiltration and functions, improve metabolic microenvironment, and with the assistance by the nano-delivery system, enhance the precision of treatment. However, the dynamic mechanism of the interaction between TCM-regulated glycolysis and TME has not been fully elucidated, for which single-cell sequencing and other technologies provide important technical support to facilitate in-depth analysis and clinical translational research. Future studies should be focused on the synergistic strategy of "metabolic reprogramming-immune activation" to provide new insights into the mechanisms of tumor immunotherapy.
