Ye Fei, Xui Li, Yi Jizu, Zhang Wandi, Zhang David Y
Department of Pathology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY 10021, USA.
J Altern Complement Med. 2002 Oct;8(5):567-72. doi: 10.1089/107555302320825075.
Scutellaria baicalensis is a widely used Chinese herbal medicine that historically is used in anti-inflammatory and anticancer therapy. The aim of the study is to determine its ability to inhibit human cancer cells in vitro and to determine whether its anticancer activity is because of the inhibition of prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) production that is derived from arachidonic acid through cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) pathway.
Cell lines from the most common human cancers, including squamous cell carcinoma (SCC-25, KB), breast cancer (MCF-7), hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2), prostate carcinoma (PC-3 and LNCaP), and colon cancer (KM-12 and HCT-15) were tested. The cells were treated with various concentrations of Scutellaria baicalensis (0.1-100 mg/mL) for 72 hours. Percentage of viable cells after treatment was assessed using a trypan blue dye exclusion assay and the level of PGE(2) production was determined by enzyme immunoassay (EIA).
Scutellaria baicalensis demonstrated a strong dose-dependent growth inhibition in all cell lines. Inhibition concentration at 50% (IC(50)) for HepG2, MCF-7, PC-3, LNCaP, KM-12, HCT-15, KB and SCC-25 cells was 1.1, 0.9, 0.52, 0.82, 1.1, 1.5, 1.0, and 1.2 mg/mL, respectively. Three cell lines (KB, SCC-25, and HepG2) were assessed for the production of PGE(2) and a high level of extracellular (KB and SCC-25) and intracellular PGE(2) (HepG2) was noted. In the presence of Scutellaria baicalensis extract, there was a significant decrease of PGE(2) in a dose-dependent fashion.
Scutellaria baicalensis strongly inhibits cell growth in all cancer cell lines tested. However, prostate and breast cancer cells (PC-3, LNCaP, and MCF-7) are slightly more sensitive than other type of cancer cells. It also inhibits PGE(2) production, indicating that suppression of tumor cell growth may be due to its ability to inhibit COX-2 activity. This study supports the notion of using Scutellaria baicalensis as a novel anticancer agent to treat various cancers.
黄芩是一种广泛应用的中药，历史上用于抗炎和抗癌治疗。本研究的目的是确定其在体外抑制人癌细胞的能力，并确定其抗癌活性是否归因于对通过环氧化酶-2（COX-2）途径从花生四烯酸衍生而来的前列腺素E2（PGE2）产生的抑制作用。
测试了来自最常见人类癌症的细胞系，包括鳞状细胞癌（SCC-25、KB）、乳腺癌（MCF-7）、肝细胞癌（HepG2）、前列腺癌（PC-3和LNCaP）以及结肠癌（KM-12和HCT-15）。用不同浓度的黄芩（0.1 - 100 mg/mL）处理细胞72小时。使用台盼蓝染料排除试验评估处理后活细胞的百分比，并通过酶免疫测定（EIA）测定PGE2的产生水平。
黄芩在所有测试的细胞系中均表现出强烈的剂量依赖性生长抑制作用。HepG2、MCF-7、PC-3、LNCaP、KM-12、HCT-15、KB和SCC-25细胞的50%抑制浓度（IC50）分别为1.1、0.9、0.52、0.82、1.1、1.5、1.0和1.2 mg/mL。对三种细胞系（KB、SCC-25和HepG2）的PGE2产生进行了评估，发现细胞外（KB和SCC-25）和细胞内PGE2（HepG2）水平较高。在黄芩提取物存在的情况下，PGE2以剂量依赖性方式显著降低。
黄芩强烈抑制所有测试癌细胞系的细胞生长。然而，前列腺癌和乳腺癌细胞（PC-3、LNCaP和MCF-7）比其他类型的癌细胞稍敏感。它还抑制PGE2的产生，表明肿瘤细胞生长的抑制可能归因于其抑制COX-2活性的能力。本研究支持将黄芩用作治疗各种癌症的新型抗癌剂的观点。
