Since the incidence of cancer has been on the rise due to increasing exposure to various carcinogenic factors in recent years, cancer has gradually become the first killer to the health of human beings. A growing attention has been paid to anti-cancer effects of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with low toxicity and good efficacy. As a kind of TCM, Periplaneta americana (P. americana) has a good effect on clinical application, and its anti-tumor effects has been increasingly well studied. In this review, the research progress on the anti-tumor effects of P. americana was summarized. The main mechanisms of its anti-tumor effects include suppression of tumor cell growth, induction of cell cycle arrest and tumor cell apoptosis, inhibition of angiogenesis, enhancement of immunity, and reversal of tumor drug resistance. This review aims to provide an overview of the research on anti-tumor effects of P. americana and aids in its further application as an anti-tumor drug.
Eight usnic acid derivatives, that is, usenamines A-F (1-6), usone (7), and isousone (8), together with the known (+)-usnic acid (9), were isolated from the lichen Usnea longissima. Their structures were elucidated using 1D and 2D NMR and MS data, and the absolute configurations of compounds 1 and 2 were defined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses. Compounds 1, 2, and 8 showed inhibitory effects on the growth of human hepatoma HepG2 cells with IC50 values of 6.0-53.3 μM compared with methotrexate as the positive control, which had an IC50 value of 15.8 μM. Furthermore, 1 induced apoptosis of HepG2 cells in a dose-dependent manner at concentrations of 0-15.0 μM. The isolated compounds were also evaluated for their antifungal and antibacterial activities, with 7 and 8 exhibiting weak inhibitory effects on fungal Trichophyton rubrum spp. with an MIC value of 41.0 μM.
Golgi Protein 73 (GP73) is a serum biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), however its role in HCC is not clear. We report that GP73 promotes cell invasion, the hallmark of malignancy, through the upregulation of matrix metalloproteinase-13 (MMP-13). GP73 enhances MMP-13 expression through cAMP responsive element binding protein (CREB)-mediated transcription activation. Levels of GP73 and MMP-13 are increased and positively correlated in human HCC tissues. Augmented MMP-13 potentiates HCC cell metastasis. Thus, the GP73-CREB-MMP-13 axis potentiates cancer cell invasion and may be a target for HCC treatment.
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