Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Sep 21, 2024; 30(35): 4011-4013
Published online Sep 21, 2024. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i35.4011
From traditional Chinese medicine formulations to effective anticancer agents: Insights from Calculus bovis
He-Tong Zhao
He-Tong Zhao, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Navy No.905 Hospital, Shanghai 200050, China
Author contributions: Zhao HT wrote this paper.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82204909.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author reports no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: He-Tong Zhao, Doctor, MD, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Navy No. 905 Hospital, Huashan Road, Shanghai 200050, China. zhtzhao@126.com
Received: July 13, 2024
Revised: August 27, 2024
Accepted: September 4, 2024
Published online: September 21, 2024
Processing time: 61 Days and 11.6 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: This study elucidates the anticancer potential of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), focusing on Calculus bovis (CB), a principal component in Pien Tze Huang, in treating liver cancer. It demonstrates CB’s role in suppressing liver cancer progression by inhibiting M2 macrophage polarization through the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Key findings emphasize the transition from holistic TCM formulations to the isolation of specific active ingredients, underscoring the necessity for modern scientific methods to dissect these components further. This approach highlights a significant shift towards integrating traditional remedies with contemporary oncological research to develop novel cancer therapies.