New advances of natural products in non-small cell lung cancer: From mechanisms to therapies.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

With the rise of immunotherapy, the treatment approach for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has undergone revolutionary changes. However, the prognosis for NSCLC patients has not been significantly improved due to the development of acquired drug resistance. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop new and more effective drugs for treating NSCLC or improving tumor treatment resistance. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been gradually incorporated into the combined treatment of NSCLC. Its active components (also known as natural products) exhibit novel structures, multi-target effects, diverse pathways, minimal toxicity, and varied biological activities, which play a therapeutic role in various diseases. Thus, natural products hold great potential for future clinical applications.

AIM OF THE STUDY

Screening main traditional plants widely used in NSCLC and their derived natural products, as well as exploring the mechanisms by which these natural products act on NSCLC-particularly focusing on their applications-can provide valuable insights for the development of therapeutic drugs targeting NSCLC.

METHODS

A comprehensive, computerized literature search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, CNKI Scholar, the American Chemical Abstracts, and Wanfang Database up to June 2024, using the following keywords: "traditional Chinese medicine", "herbal medicine", "medicinal plants", and "herbal", paired with terms such as "non-small cell lung cancer", "therapy", "natural products", and "active ingredient".

RESULTS

Summarizing current research findings, we discovered eleven medicinal plants containing a total of fourteen natural products. Natural products have a significant impact on tumor progression in NSCLC, including apotosis, autophagy, pyrotosis, cell-cycle arrest and metasis. Moreover, natural products can modulate the activities of various immune cells and reshape the immune microenvironment. Combined with conventional cancer treatments, natural products demonstrate promising therapeutic effects and effectively reverse drug resistance. Furthermore,the use of nano-drug delivery systems to address limitations associated with natural products.

CONCLUSIONS

This review summarizes eleven medicinal plants containing a total of fourteen natural products that can enhance NSCLC treatment and indicates their action mechanisms. Furthermore, we also discuss limitations of natural products and explore the use of nano-drug delivery systems to address limitations associated with natural products.