1 Department of Medical Laboratory, China
2 The 960th Hospital of the PLA Joint Logistics Support Force, China
3 School of Medical Science & Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Australia
4 School of Allied Health, Australia
5 Cancer Research Institute, China
6 Inflammation and Healing Research Cluster, Australia
7 Molecular diagnosis and Target Therapy Laboratory, China
*Corresponding author:Chengjin Hu, The 960th Hospital of the PLA Joint Logistics Support Force, Jinan, 250000, China Ming Q Wei, Menzies Health Institute Queensland and School of Medical Science, Gold Coast, QLD, 4222, Australia
Submission: February 15, 2019;Published: February 19, 2019
ISSN: 2637-7802Volume4 Issue2
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been practiced in China and surrounding regions for more than 2000 years. Research has shown that TCM is an effective and alternative option for anticancer therapy. A plethora of Chinese herbal recipes today serve as alternative or complementary medicines to treat cancer and/or alleviate the side effects of conventional therapies. This review focused on the immunoregulatory properties of TCM, introducing their effect on immune cells, immune molecules and immune organs along with discussions of their functions in improvement of cancer immunosuppressive state. Some important examples of these TCM as well as natural components possessing immunomodulatory and/or anticancer actions isolated from traditional Chinese medicines are also discussed.
Keywords: Traditional chinese medicine (TCM); Immunomodulation; Cancer therapy
Abbreviations: DCs: Dendritic Cells; APCs: Antigen Presenting Cells; NK Cells: Natural Killer Cells; MHC: Major Histocompatibility Complex; CTL: Cytotoxic T Cell; Tregs: Regulatory T Cells; TME: Cancer Microenvironment; OSCC: Oral Squamous Cells