Departamento de Fisiologia e Farmacologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2011 Sep 1;137(1):421-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2011.04.073. Epub 2011 Jun 6.
Himatanthus drasticus (Mart.) Plumel - Apocynaceae is a medicinal plant popularly known as Janaguba. Its bark and latex have been used by the public for cancer treatment, among other medicinal uses. However, there is almost no scientific research report on its medicinal properties.
The aim of this study was to investigate the antitumor effects of Himatanthus drasticus latex proteins (HdLP) in experimental models.
The in vitro cytotoxic activity of the HdLP was determined on cultured tumor cells. HdLP was also tested for its ability to induce lysis of mouse erythrocytes. In vivo antitumor activity was assessed in two experimental models, Sarcoma 180 and Walker 256 carcinosarcoma. Additionally, its effects on the immunological system were also investigated.
HdLP did not show any significant in vitro cytotoxic effect at experimental exposure levels. When intraperitoneally administered, HdLP was active against both in vivo experimental tumors. However, it was inactive by oral administration. The histopathological analysis indicates that the liver and kidney were only weakly affected by HdLP treatment. It was also demonstrated that HdLP acts as an immunomodulatory agent, increasing the production of OVA-specific antibodies. Additionally, it increased relative spleen weight and the incidence of megakaryocyte colonies.
In summary, HdLP has some interesting anticancer activity that could be associated with its immunostimulating properties.
Himatanthus drasticus（Mart.）Plumel-夹竹桃科是一种药用植物，俗称 Janaguba。其树皮和乳汁已被公众用于癌症治疗等药用用途。然而，几乎没有关于其药用特性的科学研究报告。
本研究旨在研究 Himatanthus drasticus 乳胶蛋白（HdLP）在实验模型中的抗肿瘤作用。
在培养的肿瘤细胞上测定 HdLP 的体外细胞毒性活性。还测试了 HdLP 诱导小鼠红细胞溶解的能力。在肉瘤 180 和 Walker 256 癌肉瘤两种实验模型中评估了体内抗肿瘤活性。此外，还研究了其对免疫系统的影响。
HdLP 在实验暴露水平下没有显示出任何显著的体外细胞毒性作用。当腹腔内给药时，HdLP 对体内两种实验肿瘤均有效。然而，口服给药则无效。组织病理学分析表明，肝和肾仅受到 HdLP 治疗的轻微影响。还表明 HdLP 作为一种免疫调节剂，增加了 OVA 特异性抗体的产生。此外，它增加了相对脾脏重量和巨核细胞集落的发生率。
总之，HdLP 具有一些有趣的抗癌活性，这可能与其免疫刺激特性有关。
