Modernization of traditional Chinese medicine in cancer therapy: “3 D”innovative Chinese medicine

Abstract

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has garnered increasing attention globally, with its modernization becoming a prominent research focus both within China and internationally. However, the lack of a precise definition for TCM modernization has hindered clear guidance for its development. Additionally, cancer remains a significant global public health challenge, largely untreatable with current methods. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of TCM modernization is crucial for its evolution, revolution, drug discovery, and cancer therapy. This study provides an overview of the history, theory, characteristics, and evolution of TCM, highlighting its potential in cancer prevention and treatment. We propose a definition for TCM modernization, innovative Chinese medicine (ICM), and elucidate strategies to elevate TCM from a supporting role to a leading one. Electronic databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and Clinical Trials were utilized to retrieve relevant literature spanning from 1979 to 2024, with most publications being from the last five years, using keywords like “Traditional Chinese medicine”, “Cancer”, “Mechanism”, and “Clinical trial”. In this study, we introduce the theory of TCM modernization following target identification and initial compound screening: ICM, defined by “3 D” elements: definite active ingredient composition and content, determined functional mechanism, and detection through evidence-based medicine. Overall, the “3 D” definition of ICM will establish a standard for ICM, accelerate TCM modernization, enhance drug discovery targeting cancer and various human diseases, and benefit patients worldwide.

Keywords

Traditional Chinese medicine / Innovative Chinese medicine / Definite active ingredient composition and content / Determined functional mechanism / Detection through evidence-based medicine / Cancer therapy / Drug discovery

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82203343), the National Postdoctoral H. Liu et al. Chinese Journal of Natural Medicines 24 (2026) 189-202 Program for Innovative Talents of China (No. BX20220273), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2022M712874), Henan Province Key Research and Development Promotion Special Project (Science and Technology) in 2023 (No. 232102311007), Henan Province Key Scientific Research Project of Colleges and Universities in 2023 (No. 23A310007), and the Outstanding Youth Project of Henan Provincial Natural Science Foundation (No. 252300421123).

Supporting information

Supporting information for this work can be obtained by contacting the corresponding authors via E-mail.

Acknowledgements

We thank bioRENDER for supplying the materials of figure drawing.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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