title: Anti-Proliferative Effects of Hesa-A on Human Cancer Cells with Different Metastatic Potential.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  During the past few years, Hesa-A, a herbal-marine mixture, has been used to treat cancer as an alternative medicine in Iran. Based on a series of studies, it is speculated that Hesa-A possesses special cytotoxic effects on invasive tumors. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the selective anticancer effects of Hesa-A on several cancer cell lines with different metastatic potential.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hesa-A was prepared in normal saline as a stock solution of 10 mg/ml and further diluted to final concentrations of 100 μg/ml, 200 μg/ ml, 300 μg/ml and 400 μg/ml. MTT-based cytotoxicity assays were performed with A549 (lung non small cancer), MCF-7 (breast adenocarcinoma), SKOV3 (ovarian cancer), and PC-3 (prostate adenocarcinoma) cells.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All treated cancer cells showed significant (P<0.01) or very significant (P<0.0001) differences in comparison to negative control at almost all of the tested doses (100-400 μg/ml). At the lower dose (100 μg/ml), Hesa-A reduced cell viability to 66%, 45.3%, 35.5%, 33.2% in SKOV3, A549, PC-3 and MCF-7 cells, respectively. Moreover, at the highest dose (400 μg/ml), Hesa-A resulted in 88.5%, 86.6% , 84.9% and 79.3% growth inhibition in A549, MCF-7, PC-3 and SKOV3 cells, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hesa-A exert potent cytotoxic effects on different human cancer cells, especially those with a high metastatic potential.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Advanced Medical Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran E-mail : akbarzadehab@tbzmed.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Rana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jahanban-Esfahlan
authors.forename: Mozhgan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abasi
authors.forename: Hakimeh Moghaddas
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Sani
authors.forename: Mehran Mesgari
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Abbasi
authors.forename: Abolfazl
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Akbarzadeh
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000188:drug therapy; D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000188:drug therapy; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects*; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020128:Inhibitory Concentration 50; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000494:pharmacology; D028321:Plant Preparations / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy
chemical_list: D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; C502848:HESA-A preparation; D028321:Plant Preparations; D017239:Paclitaxel