Consistently, apoptosis-related proteins (Bax, Bcl-2, Bcl-x, the caspase family, PPAR), related oncogene (β-catenin) and their downstream signaling pathway (PI3K/Akt), as the candidate targets of 8 herbs in TFS (Supplementary Table 8), may represent the apoptosis-promoting effect of the formula and also be eligible therapeutic targets for treating CRC. Here, BCL2L1 is linked to colorectal carcinoma.