Anticancer Activity of Scutellaria baicalensis and Its Potential Mechanism FEI YE, Ph.D., LI XUI, B.M., JIZU YI, Ph.D., WANDI ZHANG, B.M., and DAVID Y. ZHANG, M.D., Ph.D.
ABSTRACT Objective:Scutellaria baicalensisis a widely used Chinese herbal medicine that historically isused in anti-inflammatory and anticancer therapy. The aim of the study is to determine its ability to inhibit human cancer cells in vitro and to determine whether its anticancer activity is because of the inhibition of prostaglandin E2(PGE2) production that is derived from arachidonicacid through cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) pathway.
Methods:Cell lines from the most common human cancers, including squamous cell carcinoma (SCC-25, KB), breast cancer (MCF-7), hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2), prostate carcinoma (PC-3 and LNCaP), and colon cancer (KM-12 and HCT-15) were tested. The cells were treated with various concentrations of Scutellaria baicalensis(0.1–100 mg/mL) for 72 hours. Percentage of viable cells after treatment was assessed using a trypan blue dye exclusion assay and the level of PGE2 production was determined by enzyme immunoassay (EIA)
Results:Scutellaria baicalensis demonstrated a strong dose-dependent growth inhibition in al lcell lines. Inhibition concentration at 50% (IC50) for HepG2, MCF-7, PC-3, LNCaP, KM-12, HCT-15, KB and SCC-25 cells was 1.1, 0.9, 0.52, 0.82, 1.1, 1.5, 1.0, and 1.2 mg/mL, respectively. Three cell lines (KB, SCC-25, and HepG2) were assessed for the production of PGE2 and a high level of extracellular (KB and SCC-25) and intracellular PGE2(HepG2) was noted. In the presence of Scutellaria baicalensis extract, there was a significant decrease of PGE2 in a dose-dependent fashion.
Conclusions:Scutellaria baicalensis strongly inhibits cell growth in all cancer cell lines tested. However, prostate and breast cancer cells (PC-3, LNCaP, and MCF-7) are slightly more sensitive than other type of cancer cells. It also inhibits PGE2 production, indicating that suppression of tumor cell growth may be due to its ability to inhibit COX-2 activity. This study supports the notion of using Scutellaria baicalensisas a novel anticancer agent to treat various cancer
Source : The Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Link to Full Article
Anti-angiogenic effect of the total flavonoids in Scutellaria barbata D. Don Zhi-Jun Dai, Wang-Feng Lu, Jie Gao, Hua-Feng Kang, Yu-Guang Ma, Shu-Qun Zhang, Yan Diao, Shuai Lin, Xi-Jing Wang and Wen-Ying Wu
Abstract Background Angiogenesis is closely related to the growth, invasion and metastasis of tumors, also considered as the key target of anticancer therapy. Scutellaria barbata D. Don (S. barbata), a traditional Chinese medicine, is being used to treat various diseases, including cancer. However, the antitumor molecular mechanism of S. barbata was still unclear. This study aimed to investigate the inhibitory effects of the total flavones in S. barbata (TF-SB) on angiogenesis.
Methods Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were treated with various concentrations of TF-SB. Cell viability was examined using the MTT assay. The scratch assay was used to detect the migration of HUVECs after treatment with TF-SB. The ability of HUVECs to form network structures in vitro was demonstrated using the tube formation assay. The chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane assay was performed to detect the in vivo anti-angiogenic effect. The expression of VEGF was measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent.
Results Results showed that TF-SB inhibited the proliferation and migration of HUVECs in a dose- dependent manner. Simultaneously, TF-SB significantly suppressed HUVEC angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, VEGF was downregulated in both HUVECs and MHCC97-H cells after TF-SB treatment.
Conclusion TF-SB could suppress the process of angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo. TF-SB potentially suppresses angiogenesis in HUVECs by regulating VEGF. These findings suggested that TF-SB may serve as a potent anti-angiogenic agent.