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In vitro anticancer activity of twelve Chinese medicinal herbs
Author(s) -
Shoemaker Mark,
Hamilton Bobbi,
Dairkee Schanaz H.,
Cohen Isaac,
Campbell Michael J.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
phytotherapy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.019
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1573
pISSN - 0951-418X
DOI - 10.1002/ptr.1702
Subject(s) - traditional medicine , cell culture , scutellaria , medicinal plants , biology , pharmacology , traditional chinese medicine , medicine , genetics , alternative medicine , pathology
Aqueous extracts of 12 Chinese medicinal herbs, Anemarrhena asphodeloides , Artemisia argyi , Commiphora myrrha , Duchesnea indica , Gleditsia sinensis , Ligustrum lucidum , Rheum palmatum , Rubia cordifolia , Salvia chinensis , Scutellaria barbata , Uncaria rhychophylla and Vaccaria segetalis were evaluated for their antiproliferative activity on eight cancer cell lines as well as on normal human mammary epithelial cells. Five human and three murine cancer cell lines representing different tissues (breast, lung, pancreas and prostate) were used. All the crude aqueous extracts demonstrated growth inhibitory activity on some or all of the cancer cell lines, but only two showed activity against the normal mammary epithelial cells. Overall, the murine cell lines tended to be more sensitive to most of the extracts compared with the human cell lines. Among the human cell lines, cell type specificity was observed for two extracts. These results indicate the potential use of traditional Chinese medicinal herbs as antineoplastic agents and suggest that further studies evaluating their mechanism(s) of action and the isolation of active antitumor compounds are warranted. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.