Application of advanced technology in traditional Chinese medicine for cancer therapy

Abstract

Although cancer has seriously threatened people's health, it is also identified by the World Health Organization as a controllable, treatable and even curable chronic disease. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been extensively used to treat cancer due to its multiple targets, minimum side effects and potent therapeutic effects, and thus plays an important role in all stages of tumor therapy. With the continuous progress in cancer treatment, the overall efficacy of cancer therapy has been significantly improved, and the survival time of patients has been dramatically prolonged. In recent years, a series of advanced technologies, including nanotechnology, gene editing technology, real-time cell-based assay (RTCA) technology, and flow cytometry analysis technology, have been developed and applied to study TCM for cancer therapy, which efficiently improve the medicinal value of TCM and accelerate the research progress of TCM in cancer therapy. Therefore, the applications of these advanced technologies in TCM for cancer therapy are summarized in this review. We hope this review will provide a good guidance for TCM in cancer therapy.

Keywords: CRISPR/Cas9; flow cytometry; nanotechnology; real-time cell-based assay; traditional Chinese medicine.

FIGURE 1

The main topics of this review. The main topics include the application of advanced technologies such as nanotechnology, gene editing technology, RTCA technology, flow cytometry analysis technology in TCM for cancer therapy.

FIGURE 2

The scheme diagram of CCM@MSNs-ISOIM construction and its targeted therapeutic mechanisms in lymphoma (Zhao et al., 2021). In this work, a nano-platform based on MSNs which camouflaged by the cancer cell membrane was constructed. The nano-platform has the characteristics of anti-phagocytosis, high drug-loading capacity, low pH sensitivity, good biocompatibility and active targeting, promoting mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis.

FIGURE 3

Schematic diagram of CRISPR/Cas9 technology. According to the dimer structure of crRNA and tracrRNA, a new single-stranded chimeric sgRNA (single guide RNA) can be designed to specifically identify the target gene sequence, and then further combined with Cas9 protein to form a targeted cutting complex which specifically cut the target DNA and break the double strand of DNA.

FIGURE 4

The principle of cellular impedance detection. The cell biological states including quantity, mass, size, attachment state can be reflected by the changes in impedance.

FIGURE 5

Schematic diagram of flow cytometry. Fluorescence signals which reflect the intensity of cell membrane surface antigen can be captured by fluorescence detector, and then, amplified and converted into an electrical signal by a photomultiplitizer. The continuous electrical signal is converted into a digital signal which can be recognized by a computer and processed into an image for in-depth analysis.