The anticancer effect of artesunate and its mechanism / 药学学报

ABSTRACT

<p><b>AIM</b>To study the anticancer effect of artesunate and its mechanism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>To observe the effect of artesunate on the growth of solid tumor and the expression of PCNA, Bcl-2 and Bax genes in mice bearing H22 solid hepatic carcinoma.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>After administration of artesunate (ig, 300 mg.kg-1.d-1 x 7 d), growth of solid tumor was obviously inhibited, the tumor inhibitory rates were 49.1%, 48.7% and 46.6% and 46.6% in 3 experiments. The apoptosis of liver cancer cells were increased. Immunohistochemical staining showed that the number of Bcl-2 protein positive cells were decreased, but the number of Bax protein positive cells were increased. The PCNA positive cells were significantly lower than those in the control group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Artesunate showed obvious anticancer activity on H22 hepatic carcinoma bearing mice and undergo apoptosis of liver cancer cells. The mechanism of anticancer effect of artesunate may be related to down-regulation of the expression of PCNA and Bcl-2 genes and up-regulation of the expression of Bax gene.</p>