Cellular senescence and cancer: Focusing on traditional Chinese medicine and natural products

Abstract

The incidence of malignant tumours is rising worldwide. Cancer is regarded as the leading cause of death and the most key obstacle to improve life expectancy in every country of the world in the 21st century. 1 Tumour is a new organism formed by the proliferation of local tissue cells under the action of various tumorigenic factors. The development of cancer consists of a number of complex stages of initiation, progression and promotion, in which the stage of progression is invertible which seems to be the phase for the most appropriate drug intervention. Although there are different types therapies targeting cancers, such as surgical resection, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, biotherapy therapy, molecular-targeted therapy and treatment of TCM, however, not every therapy achieves the expected optimal effect results. For instance, surgical resection can remove the tumour, the risk of advanced cancer is increased, and the survival rate is reduced. Clinical combination of first-line chemotherapy drugs and radiotherapy can prevent the progress of cancer to some extent, but they may cause serious toxic effects, affect the metabolism and proliferation of normal tissues, and reduce the life quality of patients.

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