REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Pharmacology of Anti-Cancer Drugs
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1633286
This article is part of the Research TopicEnhancing Cancer Therapy: Integrating Plant-Derived Bioactives with Chemotherapy through Traditional Knowledge and Modern AdvancesView all 18 articles
Clinical Research, Mechanisms, and Prospects of Flavonoids from Herba Patriniae in the Treatment of Colorectal cancer
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shanghai Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
- 2Shanghai Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
- 3Zhongshan Hospital Fudan University, Shanghai, China
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Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common and aggressive malignancy of the gastrointestinal tract with a severe disease burden. The role of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and its natural active ingredients in enhancing the therapeutic effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy and preventing the recurrence and metastasis of CRC has been increasingly recognized. Herba Patriniae has shown significant clinical efficacy for the treatment of CRC. Flavonoids has been found to be one of the main active active anticancer components of Herba Patriniae. This review summarizes the latest findings from clinical trials and in vitro studies on anticancer mechanisms of Herba Patriniae, and discusses the role of the flavonoids in combination therapy against CRC. These flavonoids exert anticancer effects through diverse mechanisms. For instance, they prevent the development of precancerous lesions, regulate the cell cycle, modulate CRC cell proliferation, promote tumor cell apoptosis, inhibite epithelial-mesenchymal transition, reverse drug resistance, and modulate gut microbiota by acting on several key signaling pathways, such as PI3K/Akt/mTOR, Wnt/β-catenin, and EGFR/ERK/MAPK. Future research should prioritize clarifying the specific dosage and safety of flavonoids under different pathological conditions, further conducting large-scale, rigorously designed clinical studies to determine the efficacy differences of flavonoids for patients with different pathological types of colorectal cancer, and simultaneously delving into the mechanisms of their anti-colorectal cancer effects, as well as their interactions with the intestinal microbiota and tumor microenvironment.
Keywords: Herba patriniae, Flavonoids, colorectal cancer, Gut Microbiota, antitumor
Received: 22 May 2025; Accepted: 05 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Jia, Wang, Tang, Li and Hou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Qi Li, Zhongshan Hospital Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Fenggang Hou, Shanghai Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.