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The Antitumor Effects of Angelica sinensis on Malignant
Brain Tumors In vitro and In vivo
Tsai NM, Lin SZ, Lee CC, Chen SP, Su HC, Chang WL, Harn HJ
Institute of Medical Sciences, Buddhist Tzu Chi
University.
Purpose. In this study, we have examined the antitumor effects of chloroform
extract of Angelica sinensis (AS-C), a traditional Chinese medicine, on
glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) brain tumors in vitro and in vivo.
Experimental Design. In vitro, GBM cells were treated with AS-C, and the cell
proliferation, changes in distributions of cell cycle, and apoptosis were
determined.
In vivo, human DBTRG-05MG and rat RG2 GBM tumor cells were
injected s.c. or i.c. and were treated with AS-C.
Effects on tumor growth
were determined by tumor volume, magnetic resonance imaging, survival, and
histology analysis.
Results. The AS-C displays potency in suppressing growth
of malignant brain tumor cells without cytotoxicity to fibroblasts.
Growth
suppression of malignant brain tumor cells by AS-C results from cell cycle
arrest and apoptosis.
AS-C can up-regulate expression of cdk inhibitors,
including p21, to decrease phosphorylation of Rb proteins resulting in cell
arrest at the G(0)-G(1) phase for DBTRG-05MG and RG2 cells.
The
apoptosis-associated proteins are dramatically increased and activated in
DBTRG-05MG cells and RG2 cells by AS-C but RG2 cells without p53 protein
expression.
In vitro results showed AS-C triggered both p53-dependent and
p53-independent pathways for apoptosis.
In in vivo studies, AS-C not only
can suppress growths of malignant brain tumors of rat and human origin but
also shrink the volumes of in situ GBM, significantly prolonging survivals.
Conclusions. The in vitro and in vivo anticancer effects of AS-C
indicate that it has sufficient potential to warrant further investigation
and development as a new anti-brain tumor agent.
PMID: 15867250 [PubMed - in process]
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