Traditional Chinese Medicine Regulates Immune Escape to Ameliorate Gastrointestinal Tumors： A Review
10.13422/j.cnki.syfjx.20250817
- VernacularTitle:中医药调控免疫逃逸改善消化道肿瘤的机制研究进展
- Author:
Pengpeng LIU
1
;
Li KANG
1
;
Chengdan MAO
1
;
Xueling YUAN
1
;
Jin SHU
2
Author Information
1. Gansu University of Chinese Medicine， Lanzhou 730000， China
2. Gansu Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine， Lanzhou 730050， China
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
gastrointestinal tumor;
immune escape;
traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） active component;
TCM compound prescription;
mechanism of action
- From:
Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulae
2026;32(17):282-290
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Malignant gastrointestinal tumors （GT） mainly include laryngeal cancer， esophageal cancer， gastric cancer， pancreatic cancer， hepatocellular carcinoma， bile duct cancer， and colorectal cancer. At present， the morbidity and mortality of GT are high. Tumor immune escape is one of the key reasons for cancer development and treatment failure， and it is also the main direction of current tumor immunotherapy research. Traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） plays a role in treating GT and alleviating systemic symptoms， especially showing potential advantages in regulating the immune escape mechanism. This article elaborates on the immune escape mechanism of GT and systematically reviews that TCM active components or compound prescriptions act on key immune checkpoints such as programmed cell death protein-1 （PD-1） and programmed cell death ligand-1 （PD-L1） to reduce the proportion of marrow-derived suppressor cells （MDSCs）， promote the polarization of M1 macrophages， activate effector immune cells， enhance CD8+ T cell recruitment and interferon （IFN）-γ secretion， enhance the killing activity of natural killers （NKs）， and reduce foxhead box protein P3（FoxP3+）-positive regulatory T （Treg） cell infiltration. TCM active components or compound prescriptions can remodel the tumor microenvironment （TME）， such as improving immunosuppressive factors， promoting vascular normalization， and regulating intestinal microbiota. Through the regulation of TME， enhancement of antigen presentation， inhibition of immune checkpoint molecules， regulation of cellular network factors and metabolites， etc.， TCM active components or compound prescriptions enhance the immune function， thereby inhibiting the immune escape of GT. This paper summarizes and reflects on the research results of TCM in regulating immune escape to treat GT in recent years， aiming to help transform TCM from empirical medication to precision treatment based on immune regulation， reduce drug resistance and enhance treatment effect.
