Effects of a Chinese Herbal Medicine, Guan-Jen-Huang (Aeginetia indica Linn.), on Renal Cancer Cell Growth and Metastasis Yu-Huei Liu,1,2,3 Meng-Luen Li,1 Meng-Yu Hsu,1 Ya-Yueh Pang,1 I-Ling Chen,1 Ching-Kuei Chen,1 Sai-Wen Tang,1 Hsuan-Yuan Lin,1 and Jung-Yaw Lin1
1Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 100, Taiwan 2Department of Medical Genetics and Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 404, Taiwan 3Graduate Institute of Integrated Medicine of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung 404, Taiwan
Abstract Aeginetia indica Linn. (Guan-Jen-Huang, GJH), a traditional Chinese herb, has the potential to be an immunomodulatory agent. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of GJH in the treatment of renal cancer. Concentration-effect curves for the influence of GJH on cellular proliferation showed a biphasic shape. Besides, GJH had a synergistic effect on cytotoxicity when combined with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)which may be due to the alternation of the chemotherapeutic agent resistance-related genes and due to the synergistic effects on apoptosis. In addition, treatment with GJH extract markedly reduced 786-O cell adherence to human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and decreased 786-O cell migration and invasion. In a xenograft animal model, GJH extract had an inhibitory effect on tumor cell-induced metastasis. Moreover, western blot analysis showed that the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) in 786-O cells was significantly decreased by treatment with GJH extract through inactivation of nuclear factor-κB (NF–κB). These results suggest that GJH extract has a synergistic effect on apoptosis induced by chemotherapeutic agents and an inhibitory effect on cell adhesion, migration, and invasion, providing evidence for the use of water-based extracts of GJH as novel alternative therapeutic agents in the treatment of human renal cancer.
Source : Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 935860, 10 pages doi:10.1155/2012/935860 Link to Full Article