Antitumor effects of Chi-Shen extract from Salvia miltiorrhiza and Paeoniae radix on human hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the antihepatocellular carcinoma effects of Chi-Shen extract (CSE) from the water-soluble compounds of Salvia miltiorrhiza and Paeoniae radix. Methods: The effect of CSE on the growth of HepG2 cells (hepatocellular carcinoma cell line) was studied by 3-(4,5)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Apoptosis were detected through acridine orange (AO) and ethylene dibromide (EB) staining and DNA fragmentation assay. The effect of CSE on the cell cycle of HepG2 cells was studied by the propidium iodide staining method. The activation of caspases-3, -8 and -9 was examined by immunoassay kits. The transcription of the Bcl-2 family and p53 was detected by RT-PCR. Results: Our data revealed that CSE strongly induced HepG2 cell death in a dose-and time-dependent manner. CSE-induced cell death was considered to be apoptotic by observing the typical apoptotic morphological change by AO/EB staining and DNA fragmentation assay. The induction of HepG2 cell death was caused by an induction of apoptosis for the sub-G 1 proportion increase, the downregulation of Bcl-2, the upregulation of Bax and p53, and the activation of the caspases-3 and -9 pathways. Conclusion: These results clearly demonstrated that CSE was able to inhibit the proliferation of HepG2 cells and cause apoptosis. Moreover, the anticancer effects of CSE were related to the Bcl-2 family pathway and the activation of caspases-3 and -9 in HepG2 cells.

Yang-Dan-Tang, Identified from 15 Chinese Herbal Formulae, Inhibits Human Lung Cancer Cell Proliferation via Cell Cycle Arrest

“…Crude extracts of Fructus Zizyphi Jujubae and Rhizoma Zingiberis were shown to block angiogenesis [33] and enhance paclitaxel sensitivity [34], respectively. Water extract of Paeoniae Rubrae was also reported to have apoptotic effect on hepatocellular carcinoma cells [35]. In our study, we found Formula 14 could induce cell cycle arrest, as several previous reports also show; however, we did not observe obvious apoptosis of A549 cells after treatment with the formula.…”

Efecto antitumoral del extracto acuoso de Bomarea cornigera (Alstroemeriaceae) en sarcomas inducidos en ratones

“…El mecanismo de acción responsable de la actividad antitumoral de la infusión de B. cornigera aun no está elucidado, sin embargo actualmente se está estudiando a nivel mundial el rol que tienen las sustancias naturales de diferentes plantas con propiedades medicinales sobre los diferentes sistemas biológicos del organismo para demostrar su efecto antitumoral, entre ellos tenemos los que buscan factores de inhibición de la mitosis (Bezerra et al 2006), aquellos que estimulan al sistema inmune (Malik et al 1991, Ismaili et al 2009) o los que actuarían sobre el material genético (Hu et al 2007), es por ello la importancia de diseñar pruebas posteriores como el ELISPOT con la cual podríamos medir el grado de expresión del INF-γ por parte de los linfocitos T (Alzamora et al 2007) y que permitirían esclarecer a qué nivel estaría actuando la infusión de B. cornigera; además de análisis que permitan determinar la composición química de la infusión y establecer las fracciones que contienen los principios activos.…”

Assessment of the Antimutagenic Effects of Aqueous Extracts from Herbal Medicines against N-Alkyl-N-nitrosoureas-induced Mutagenicity Using the umu Test

“…Astragalus Root (33,34), Cnidium Rhizome (35), Glycyrrhiza (36), Paony Root (35,37) and Poria Sclerotium (38) have been reported to have anticancer eŠects through induction of apoptosis.…”