Gut Microbiota: An Innovative Traditional Chinese Medicine Perspective on Breast Cancer Therapy

Breast cancer (BC) represents a complex malignancy shaped by both genetic pre-disposition and environmental influences, with growing evidence implicating the gut micro-environment in its pathogenesis. While the therapeutic potential of gut-targeted interventions has gained attention, the precise molecular mechanisms remain poorly characterized. Tradi-tional Chinese medicine (TCM) has emerged as a valuable therapeutic approach due to its widespread availability and demonstrated clinical efficacy, particularly through its capacity to modulate gut homeostasis and exert systemic effects across multiple disease states, including breast cancer. Specific TCM formulations, including CCM, CMM, and MBC, have shown significant potential to reshape gut microbial composition, influence microbial metabolite pro-duction, restore immune homeostasis, enhance short-chain fatty acid biosynthesis, regulate estrogen metabolism, and induce beneficial epigenetic modifications, thereby offering a mul-tifaceted therapeutic strategy against breast cancer. This review systematically examines the pharmacological mechanisms, molecular targets, and clinical implications of TCM-based in-terventions in breast cancer management, highlighting their potential to open new avenues in oncological therapeutics.