Table 1. Mechanism of anti-tumor action of TCM monomers.

Classify	TCM monomers	Chemical formula of TCM monomers	Source	Experimental model	Changes in tumor cells and tumors	Antitumor mechanisms	References
Steroid	Bufalin		Bufo gargarizans	Human gallbladder cancer cell lines GBC-SD and SGC-996 cells and Nude mice model with subcutaneous GBC-SD cell xenografts	Inhibited cell proliferation, induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest, reduced tumor volume by 40%	Bufalin inhibits c-Met-mediated MEK/ERK and PI3K/AKT signaling pathways, suppressing tumor cell invasion, migration, and self-renewal of cancer stem cells. Bufalin (2 mg/kg) significantly reduced tumor volume by about 40% and effectively inhibited the growth of gallbladder cancer cells.	(Qian et al., 2020)
Organic acids	Betulinic acid		Betula platyphylla Suk	GBC-SD and SGC-996 cells, Nude mice model with subcutaneous GBC-SD cell xenografts	Inhibited cell migration and clonogenic ability	Derivative Q-4 of betulinic acid induces apoptosis, autophagy, and cell cycle arrest, producing reactive oxygen species. Q-4 exerts anti-tumor effects by inhibiting the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway and reversing trastuzumab resistance.	(Cai, 2023)
Phenylpropanoid	Verbascoside		Cistanche deserticola	MCF-7, Hela, and MDA-MB-231 cells	Significantly inhibited proliferation, migration, and invasion of GBM cells, promoted apoptosis and autophagy. Tumor volume was significantly reduced compared to the control group.	Verbascoside significantly inhibits the proliferation, invasion, and migration of colorectal cancer cells by inhibiting the Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 1 (Rac-1), hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), and zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 1 (Zeb-1) signaling pathways.	(Jia et al., 2020)
Quinones	Shikonin		Lithospermum erythrorhizon	Hs683 cells	Induced and promoted apoptosis	Promoted apoptosis by activating Caspase-3 and upregulating PERK/CHOP protein levels.	(Ma et al., 2020)
Phenols	Emodin		Reynoutria japonica	HaCaT cells	Regulated cell cycle, promoted apoptosis	Insulin growth factor receptor (IGF1R) is the key target of emodin in the treatment of gastric cancer. Emodin induces apoptosis of gastric cancer cells and inhibits proliferation by inhibiting the IGF1R/PDK1 signaling pathway.	(Deng et al., 2023a)
Saponin	Ginsenoside Rg3		Panax ginseng	NSCLC cell lines H1975, H1299, A549, HCC827 and LLC cell xenograft model	Inhibited tumor growth, reduced tumor volume	Rg3 inhibited the glycosylation of PD-L1 by suppressing the EGFR signaling pathway, thereby enhancing T cell-mediated anti-tumor immune responses. In vivo experiments showed that Rg3 dose-dependently increased the concentration of IL-2, IFN-γ, and TNF-α in mouse serum, while promoting the activation of CD8+ T cells in the tumor microenvironment, as evidenced by increased expression levels of perforin and granzyme B.	(Wang et al., 2024a)
Terpenes	Paclitaxel		Taxus brevifolia	MDA-MB-231, Cal51, MCF10A and LLC cell xenograft model in C57/BL6J mice	Enhanced cytotoxicity, reduced tumor volume	Increasing the duration of multipolar spindle formation significantly enhanced the cytotoxicity of paclitaxel. Inhibiting Mps1 or upregulating Mad1 reduced the efficacy of paclitaxel. Mad1-upregulated MDA-MB-231 cells exhibited lower sensitivity to paclitaxel, with less tumor reduction compared to the control group. Paclitaxel exerts anti-tumor effects by inducing multipolar spindle formation and chromosomal instability.	(Scribano et al., 2021)
Alkaloids	Berberine		Coptis chinensisFranch	HT-29 colorectal cancer cells and CRC mouse model	Inhibited proliferation, migration, invasion, and clonogenic ability of HT-29 cells, induced apoptosis	Berberine concentration- and time-dependently reduced the levels of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2, upregulated pro-apoptotic protein Bax expression, and activated Caspase-9 and Caspase-3. By inhibiting the abnormal activation of the Hedgehog signaling pathway, it reduced the expression of SHH, Ptch1, SMO, Gli1, and c-Myc, while enhancing the expression of SUFU, thereby suppressing the malignant phenotype of CRC cells. In vivo experiments showed that berberine significantly alleviated the pathological features of AOM/DSS-induced CRC mice, increased survival rates, relieved colon shortening, and reduced the activity of the Hedgehog signaling pathway.	(Sun et al., 2022)
Flavonoids	Puerarin		Rutagravolelensl	PANC-1 and PATU-8988T cell lines, nude mice model with subcutaneous xenografts	Inhibited cell proliferation, induced mitochondria-mediated apoptosis, reduced tumor mass and volume	Bax/Bcl-2 imbalance, puerarin concentration- and time-dependently inhibited epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) to suppress cell migration and invasion. Puerarin reduced Ki67 and c-Myc expression, upregulated Cleaved caspase-8 and Bax, downregulated Bcl-2 expression, while inhibiting the expression of EMT-related protein α-SMA and increasing E-cadherin expression.	(Zhu et al., 2021)