Antitumor Effect of Water Decoctions of Taxus Cuspidate on Pancreatic Cancer Chao Qu1,2 and Zhen Chen1,2
1Department of Integrative Oncology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai 200032, China 2Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
Abstract
The Taxus cuspidate has been used as a traditional Chinese medicinal herb and considered to affect various physiological functions in the body for thousands of years. As we know that taxol isolated from the Taxus cuspidate has been approved for the treatment of ovarian cancer, it has also shown its antitumor abilities against other kinds of cancers. But the antitumor activity of other components which are free of paclitaxel and hydrophilic paclitaxel derivatives from Taxus cuspidate has not been fully understood. In this study, we investigated the effect of the water decoctions from the leaves of Taxus cuspidate on pancreatic cancer cell proliferation and the potential mechanism(s); though its antitumor activity and mechanism in vitro remain to be elucidated, the water soluble constituents from Taxus cuspidate could be used in clinical for cancer patients.
......According to our results, the water decoction of Taxus cuspidate attenuates the inflammatory activation by downregulating the two important factors, but without affecting the stimulating inflammatory cytokines. In conclusion, traditional Chinese medicine could be used alone, or as an adjuvant in combination with chemotherapeutic drugs for cancer treatment, including Taxus cuspidate. There are many difficulties in studying the molecular mechanisms of water decoction of TCM which are totally different from the extract agent. Though the underlying antitumor mechanisms of water decoction from TCM are still unclear, future studies in vitro will be helpful to uncover it.
Source : Evidence Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Journal Link to Full Article