[Anticancer effect of tanshinone and its mechanisms].

Tanshinone IIA is a derivative of phenanthrene-quinone isolated from Salvia miltiorrhiza BUNGE, which is a traditional herbal medicine that is used to treat cardiovascular diseases. Recent studies showed that Tanshinone IIA possesses cytotoxic activity against many kinds of human carcinoma cell lines, induces differentiation and apoptosis and inhibits invasion and metastasis of cancer cells. Its mechanisms are thought as inhibiting DNA synthesis and proliferation of cancer cells, regulating the expression of genes related to proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis, inhibiting the telomerase activity of cancer cells, and changing the expression of cellular surface antigen.