title: Hesa-A Down-Regulates erb/b2 Oncogene Expression and Improves Outcome of Oral Carcinoma in a Rat Model.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Oral carcinoma (OC) remains one of the most difficult malignancies to cure. Hesa-A is an Iranian herbal-marine compound that has shown promising anti-tumor properties against various human tumors. However, its mechanism of action remains to be addressed. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of two doses of Hesa-A on mRNA expression of erb\b2 as a main prognosticator tumor marker for OC in an animal model.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 60 rats were randomly divided into 5 groups of 12 animals each. Rats in carcinoma groups received 0, 250 and 500 mg/kg body weight doses of Hesa-A 3 times a day. The other two groups were considered as treated and untreated control groups. At the end of the experiment, animals were sacrificed and tongue tissues subjected to H and E staining and real time PCR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our results showed that compared to the control group, erb\ b2 was over-expressed ~ 30% in the carcinoma group. After treatment with 250 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg body weight of Hesa-A , erb\b2 levels dropped by 24.1% and 3.4 % respectively compared to the control carcinoma group (p<0.01, p<0.0001). Moreover, there was a significant relation between erb\ b2 mRNA content and observed pathological changes in studied groups (p<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data provide insight into mechanism(s) by which Hesa-A may improve clinical outcome of oral carcinoma by affecting oncogene erb\b2 expression and suggest Hesa-A as an effective chemotherapeutic agent in treatment of HER+ tumors.
authors.affiliation: Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran E-mail : jahanbanr@tbzmed.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Mehran Mesgari
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Abbasi
authors.forename: Masoumeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mehdipour
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Monfaredan
authors.forename: Rana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jahanban-Esfahlan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D015536:Down-Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D028321:Plant Preparations / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D028321:Plant Preparations; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; C502848:HESA-A preparation