Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), derived from circulating monocytes recruited to tumor sites via chemotactic signals such as C-C motif ligand 2 (CCL2) and colony-stimulating factor-1 (CSF-1), are pivotal components of the tumor microenvironment (TME). Functionally polarized into distinct subtypes, TAMs play dual roles: proinflammatory M1-type TAMs enhance antitumor immunity through the secretion of cytokines such as interleukin-12 (IL-12) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and direct tumor cell cytotoxicity, whereas M2-type TAMs promote tumor progression by facilitating angiogenesis, metastasis, and immunosuppression. This polarization is dynamically regulated by different cytokines, various signaling pathways, and metabolic cues within the TME. Spatial distribution analyses revealed that M2-like TAMs predominantly infiltrate hypoxic and stromal regions, where they secrete factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) to remodel the extracellular matrix and suppress immune responses via programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) and arginase-1 upregulation. Crucially, TAMs interact extensively with immune cells; M2-TAMs secrete interleukin-10 (IL-10) and TGF-β to inhibit cytotoxic T lymphocytes while expanding regulatory T (Treg) cells and impairing natural killer (NK) cell function via altered antigen presentation. Conversely, M1-TAMs synergize with dendritic cells to enhance T-cell priming. Therapeutically, targeting TAMs offers promising strategies, including colony-stimulating factor-1 receptor (CSF-1R) inhibitors, CCL2 antagonists, and nanoparticle-mediated repolarization of M2-TAMs toward the M1 phenotype. Emerging genetic approaches, such as clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat-CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR-Cas9) editing, aim to disrupt protumorigenic pathways in TAMs. Additionally, TAM-related biomarkers (e.g., CD206 and CD163) are being evaluated for their prognostic and predictive utility in immunotherapies. Despite progress, challenges persist owing to TAM plasticity and TME heterogeneity across cancers. This review synthesizes TAM biology, immune crosstalk, and therapeutic advancements, providing a foundation for novel oncology strategies aimed at reprogramming TAMs to overcome treatment resistance and improve clinical outcomes.

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Network pharmacology can ascertain the therapeutic mechanism of drugs for treating diseases at the level of biological targets and pathways. The effective mechanism study of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) characterized by multi-component, multi-targeted, and integrative efficacy, perfectly corresponds to the application of network pharmacology. Currently, network pharmacology has been widely utilized to clarify the mechanism of the physiological activity of TCM. In this review, we comprehensively summarize the application of network pharmacology in TCM to reveal its potential of verifying the phenotype and underlying causes of diseases, realizing the personalized and accurate application of TCM. We searched the literature using "TCM network pharmacology" and "network pharmacology" as keywords from Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar, as well as Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure in the last decade. The origins, development, and application of network pharmacology are closely correlated with the study of TCM which has been applied in China for thousands of years. Network pharmacology and TCM have the same core idea and promote each other. A well-defined research strategy for network pharmacology has been utilized in several aspects of TCM research, including the elucidation of the biological basis of diseases and syndromes, the prediction of TCM targets, the screening of TCM active compounds, and the decipherment of mechanisms of TCM in treating diseases. However, several factors limit its application, such as the selection of databases and algorithms, the unstable quality of the research results, and the lack of standardization. This review aims to provide references and ideas for the research of TCM and to encourage the personalized and precise use of Chinese medicine.

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Drug combination is a common method for clinical disease treatment. Whether the combination of drugs is reasonable often affects the result of the disease treatment. Many methods have been used to evaluate interaction between drugs to date. Isobologram analysis has been mathematically proven and widely used to evaluate drug interactions. In this paper, the principle of isobologram analysis and its application in drug interaction evaluation are summarized. The applications of the similar cotoxicity coefficient and fractional inhibitory concentration index in the evaluation of drug interaction are also reviewed. This work is expected to evaluate the effect of formulations scientifically and provide scientific judgment standards for the development of formulations and clinical drug compatibility.

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Viral infections cause many serious human diseases with high mortality rates. New drug-resistant strains are continually emerging due to the high viral mutation rate, which makes it necessary to develop new antiviral agents. Compounds of plant origin are particularly interesting. The pentacyclic triterpenoids (PTs) are a diverse class of natural products from plants composed of three terpene units. They exhibit antitumor, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral activities. Oleanolic, betulinic, and ursolic acids are representative PTs widely present in nature with a broad antiviral spectrum. This review focuses on the recent literatures in the antiviral efficacy of this class of phytochemicals and their derivatives. In addition, their modes of action are also summarized.

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Cancer prevention and treatment using traditional Chinese medicines have attracted increasing interest. This study characterizes antioxidant activity and phenolic compounds of traditional Chinese medicinal plants associated with anticancer, comprising 112 species from 50 plant families. The improved ABTS(*+) method was used to systematically assess the total antioxidant capacity (Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity, TEAC) of the medicinal extracts. The TEAC values and total phenolic content for methanolic extracts of herbs ranged from 46.7 to 17,323 micromol Trolox equivalent/100 g dry weight (DW), and from 0.22 to 50.3 g of gallic acid equivalent/100 g DW, respectively. A positive, significant linear relationship between antioxidant activity and total phenolic content (all R(2) values>/=0.95) showed that phenolic compounds were the dominant antioxidant components in the tested medicinal herbs. Major types of phenolic compounds from most of the tested herbs were preliminarily identified and analyzed, and mainly included phenolic acids, flavonoids, tannins, coumarins, lignans, quinones, stilbenes, and curcuminoids. These medicinal herbs exhibited far stronger antioxidant activity and contained significantly higher levels of phenolics than common vegetables and fruits. Traditional Chinese medicinal plants associated with anticancer might be potential sources of potent natural antioxidants and beneficial chemopreventive agents.

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