title: Anti-tumor effects of d-dicentrine from the root of Lindera megaphylla.
abstract: d-Dicentrine, a naturally occurring aporphine type isoquinoline alkaloid, isolated from the root of Lindera megaphylla Hemsl. (Lauraceae), was evaluated for its potential anti-cancer activity. We found d-dicentrine significantly inhibited the growth of human hepatoma cell line HuH-7 by delaying its doubling time in tissue culture. An in vitro colony forming assay showed that d-dicentrine decreased the colony formation efficiency in both hepatoma cell lines, HuH-7 and MS-G2, used in our study. Biosyntheses of the macromolecules DNA and RNA were also strongly inhibited. An MTT assay in 21 tumor cell lines also revealed that d-dicentrine was most cytotoxic to esophageal carcinoma HCE-6, lymphoma cell lines Molt-4 and CESS, leukemia cell lines HL60 and K562, and hepatoma cell line MS-G2. An in vitro tumor growing assay in the Severe Combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mice showed that intraperitoneal injection of d-dicentrine at the dose of 100 micrograms twice a week for 4 weeks significantly inhibited the tumor incidence of leukemia cell line K562 in SCID mice. All these data indicated that d-dicentrine has potential anti-tumor applications.
authors.affiliation: National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. rlhuang@cma23.nricm.edu.tw
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Y L
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Ou
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001060:Aporphines / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D018517:Plant Roots; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D001060:Aporphines; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C067342:dicentrine