Anti-tumor effect of Archidendron lucidum (Benth.) against esophageal cancer, colorectal cancer and hepatoma Chia-Yuan Liu1,2,3#, Yuen-Liang Lai4,5#, Chin-Ping Lin1, Yu-Tse Wu3, Tung-Hu Tsai3## and Yu-Jen Chen1,3,4*
1Department of Medical Research, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. 2Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. 3Institute of Traditional Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan. 4Department of Radiation Oncology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. 5Taipei Medical University- Shuang Ho Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. 6Department of Education and Research, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Abstract Archidenron lucidum is an indigenous medicinal plant in Taiwan used for treatment of inflammatory diseases and cancer. This study was aimed to investigate its anti-cancer effect against gastrointestinal and hepatic malignancy. We found that the 50% effective concentrations of its methanol extract (MEAL) against human esophageal cancer CE81T/VGH, hepatoma HA22T/VGH and murine colorectal cancer CT26 cells were less than 5.0 μg/mL in vitro whereas those of water extract were greater than 30 μg/mL. Cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase was observed in all three cell lines treated with MEAL. Development of hypodiploidy cells suggests that apoptosis might be one of the cell death pathways of CE81T/VGH cells. Intraperitoneal injection with 1.25 mg/kg MEAL significantly inhibited syngeneic CT26 tumor growth in BALB/c mice without obvious toxicity in terms of changes in body weight, leukocyte count and plasma creatinine and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels. Higher dose (2.5 mg/kg) MEAL did not further increase the anti-tumor effect, but resulted in elevation of plasma ALT level. Our results indicate that optimal dose of MEAL might possess the anti-tumor effects against esophageal, hepatocellular and colorectal cancers with a relative safety profile. Accordingly, we are purifying effective and less toxic compounds from MEAL.