Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) refers to the process by which cells transit from epithelial phenotype to mesenchymal phenotype. It plays an important role in the invasion and metastasis of carcinomas

but lack of effective therapeutic drugs so far. Chinese material medica which is capable of inhibiting EMT in tumor with minimal adverse side effects

curative effects and multiple targets in an attractive resource library and has aroused more and more concern.The research is about the newest progress of effect and mechanism of Chinese herbal drug monomer and compound against cancer and summarizes the association between therapeutic principle of traditional Chinese medicine and modern pharmacological mechanisms

in order to provide some references and clues to the drug development for EMT.