title: Anti-cancer and pro-apoptotic effects of an herbal medicine and Saccharomyces cerevisiae product (CKBM) on human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells in vitro and in vivo.
abstract: Hepatocellular carcinoma is a major health problem worldwide. Different treatment strategies have been developed to cope with this problem. Herbal medicine is now widely studied in both Eastern and Western countries. In this study, we used both in vitro and in vivo model to illustrate the anti-tumor effect of a product, CKBM, consisting of herbal medicine and specially processed Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Dose-dependent anti-proliferation effect was observed on in vitro growth of human hepatoma HepG2 cells after 48 hours incubation with CKBM. At the 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) no significant toxic effect was observed on normal human fibroblasts Hs68 and human liver WRL-68 cells. The results of morphological changes, detection of DNA fragmentation, flow cytometric analysis and Western blot analysis indicated that this anti-tumor effect of CKBM was mediated via the process of apoptosis. In addition, HepG2 cells- bearing nude mice model was used for in vivo anti-tumor study. Our results showed that 14-day treatment with 0.8 ml daily dosage of CKBM could inhibit 54.1% of tumor growth. The plasma activities of enzymes specific for heart and liver, namely creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase, remained at normal levels, indicated that CKBM did not produce toxicity to the host.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: J Y W
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: J Y N
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.forename: S C W
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Luk
authors.forename: Y J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: S F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.forename: K P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Fung
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects; D016193:G1 Phase / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D020128:Inhibitory Concentration 50; D008114:Liver Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry*; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal