title: Multi-pathway cellular analysis on crude natural drugs/herbs from Japanese Kampo formulations.
abstract: Kampo formulations comprise a number of crude natural drugs/herbs as constituents. The crude drugs/herbs have been traditionally classified by their traditional classifications or efficacies in Kampo medicines; however, it has been difficult to establish the scientific link between experimental evidence and traditional classifications in Kampo medicine. To clarify such traditional conceptions, we tested 112 crude drugs/herbs that are major components of Kampo formulations, in the multi-pathway analysis of 10 well-studied transcriptional activities including CREB, ERSF, HIF-1α, IRFs, MYC, NF-κB, p53, SMAD, SOX2, and TCF/LEF in A549 human lung cancer cells. By clustering the results of multi-pathway analysis with the Spearman rank-correlation coefficient and Ward linkage, three distinct traditional categories were significantly enriched in the major groupings, which are heat-clearing and dampness-drying herbs, acrid and warm exterior-resolving herbs, and acrid and cool exterior-resolving herbs. These results indicate that these crude drugs/herbs have similar effects on intracellular signaling and further imply that the traditional classifications of those enriched crude drugs/herbs can be supported by such experimental evidence. Collectively, our new in vitro multi-pathway analysis may be useful to clarify the mechanism of action of crude drugs/herbs and Kampo formulations.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pathogenic Biochemistry, Institute of Natural Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.
authors.forename: Shizuka
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Eshima
authors.affiliation: Division of Pathogenic Biochemistry, Institute of Natural Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science and Technology, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.affiliation: Division of Pathogenic Biochemistry, Institute of Natural Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hayakawa
authors.affiliation: Division of Pathogenic Biochemistry, Institute of Natural Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.
authors.forename: Ikuo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Saiki
mesh_terms: D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D006801:Humans; D020835:Medicine, Kampo; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts