Mechanistic insights into traditional Chinese medicine for digestive tract cancers: implications for gastric, hepatic, esophageal, intestinal, and pancreatic tumors

Abstract The increasing incidence of cancer-related deaths highlights the pressing need for effective treatment modalities, particularly in the context of digestive tract cancers, such as gastric, hepatic, esophageal, intestinal, and pancreatic tumors. While conventional drug therapies play a critical role in managing these malignancies, their associated side effects often pose significant challenges to patient quality of life. Thus, there is a growing focus on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and its compounds, which are safe, non-toxic, and reliable. During anti-tumor therapy, TCM compounds, based on their multi-target, multi-pathway, and multi-level regulatory effects, fully mobilize multiple mechanisms of the body, presenting significant advantages in inhibiting tumor development, boosting patient welfare, and increasing their lifespan. This article reviews the mechanisms by which TCM inhibits tumor cell proliferation, promotes tumor cell death, suppresses tumor cell invasion and metastasis, regulates the tumor microenvironment, inhibits angiogenesis, and enhances anti-tumor drug resistance. This knowledge might provide a theoretical and scientific basis for preventing and treating tumors using TCM.