ABSTRACT
Our previous study demonstrated that the herbal medicine, Oren-to, had antitumor effects on esophageal cancer cells (ECCs) in vitro. The purpose of this study was to examine which of the seven constituents of Oren-to had antitumor effects on esophageal cancer cells. MTT assay showed that, of the seven constituents, only the aqueous extract of Coptidis Rhizoma had potent inhibitory effect on the proliferation of two types of ECC lines, YES-3 and YES-4. In addition, the proliferation of all six types of ECC lines (YES-1 to YES-6) was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.001 for all), when co-cultured at each concentration of Coptidis Rhizoma for 72 h. The ID50 of Coptidis Rhizoma for YES-1 to YES-6 was 2.2 microg/ml, 3.0 microg/ml, 0.25 microg/ml, 2.8 microg/ml, 2.5 microg/ml, and 0.5 microg/ml, respectively, berberine, one of protoberberine components of Coptidis Rhizoma, showed potent antitumor effects on all six types of ECC lines as well as Coptidis Rhizoma. In addition, the ID50 of berberine showed a positive correlation with that of Coptidis Rhizoma in six types of ECC lines examined (r2 = 0.763, P = 0.023). Cell cycle analysis of Coptidis Rhizoma-treated cancer cells showed the accumulation of cells in the G0/G1 phase and relative decrease of the S phase. These results support the possibility that the use of Coptidis Rhizoma containing abundant berberine may be useful as one of alternative therapies for esophageal cancers.
Subject(s)
Antineoplastic Agents/pharmacology , Berberine/pharmacology , Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology , Esophageal Neoplasms/pathology , Antineoplastic Agents/chemistry , Antineoplastic Agents/therapeutic use , Berberine/analysis , Berberine/therapeutic use , Cell Cycle/drug effects , Cell Division/drug effects , Coptis chinensis , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor , Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry , Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use , Esophageal Neoplasms/drug therapy , Flow Cytometry , Formazans , Humans , Tetrazolium Salts , Tumor Cells, CulturedABSTRACT
The nm23 gene is a potential metastasis suppressor gene originally identified using a murine melanoma cell line. The expression of nm23-H1 protein was examined immunohistochemically in 50 eligible patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). The expression was not correlated with other prognostic factors including lymph node metastases; however, overall survival rates of nm23-H1-negative patients were significantly shorter than those of nm23-H1-positive patients (P < 0.05). Furthermore, reduced expression of nm23-H1 was associated with shorter overall survival in patients with involved lymph nodes (P < 0.01), but not in patients without involved lymph nodes. These data support the conclusion that reduced expression of nm23-H1 may be associated with poor prognosis of ESCC patients, suggesting the value of nm23-H1 expression as a prognostic marker for ESCC patients, especially ESCC patients with involved lymph nodes.
