Adjuvant effects of Chinese medicinal tonics on gastric, liver, and colorectal cancers-OMICs-based contributions to understanding their mechanism of action

Zhigang Zuo; Jia Jia; Hongliang Li; Run Shi; Di Wang; Ke-Wu Zeng; Hong Nie; Xin-Guo Wang; Wen Liu; Minglun Li; Yibin Feng; Xuan Bin Wang

doi:10.3389/fphar.2022.986765

Adjuvant effects of Chinese medicinal tonics on gastric, liver, and colorectal cancers-OMICs-based contributions to understanding their mechanism of action

Front Pharmacol. 2022 Nov 29:13:986765. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.986765. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Zhigang Zuo¹, Jia Jia¹, Hongliang Li¹, Run Shi², Di Wang³, Ke-Wu Zeng⁴, Hong Nie⁵, Xin-Guo Wang⁶, Wen Liu⁷, Minglun Li⁸, Yibin Feng⁹, Xuan Bin Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Chinese Herbal Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacy, Renmin Hospital, Biomedical Research Institute, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Hubei Key Laboratory of Wudang Local Chinese Medicine Research, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, China.
² Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
³ Engineering Research Center of Chinese Ministry of Education for Edible and Medicinal Fungi, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
⁵ International Cooperative Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Medicine Modernization and Innovative Drug Development of Chinese Ministry of Education (MOE), Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Pharmacodynamic Constituents of TCM and New Drugs Research, College of Pharmacy, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
⁶ School of Pharmacy, Hebei University of Chinese Medicine, Shijiazhuang, China.
⁷ School of Pharmacy, Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, China.
⁸ Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.
⁹ School of Chinese Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China.

Abstract

Gastric, liver, and colorectal cancers belong to gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, one of the most threatening diseases in the world. The tonics class in Chinese medicines plays a critical role in antigastrointestinal cancer as adjuvants. However, it is a challenge to study the effects and underlying mechanisms of tonics due to their multiple components and multiple targets; OMICs were introduced to facilitate the investigation of the complex mixture of tonics. In this review, the online databases PubMed, ProQuest, Web of Knowledge, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chongqing VIP, and Wanfang were retrieved from 1 January 2011 to 31 May 2022, in an aim to summarize and discuss the research progress of the effects and, especially, the underlying mechanisms of tonics for antigastrointestinal cancers via OMICs. The results showed that through the combination of OMICs and other technologies, tonics have been used for gastrointestinal cancer by targeting cancer hallmarks, enhancing body resistance to carcinogenesis, enhancing therapeutic effects, and/or decreasing side effects. In conclusion, tonics may play a promising role in gastric, liver, and colorectal cancers as adjuvants and can be well investigated via the combination of OMICs and other technologies, which deserves further study.

Keywords: Chinese medicines; OMICs; gastrointestinal cancer; hallmark; tonics.

Publication types

Review