Department of Molecular Oncology, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, MBC # 03, PO BOX 3354, Riyadh 11211, Saudi Arabia.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2012 Oct 11;143(3):819-25. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2012.07.042. Epub 2012 Aug 16.
While camel urine (CU) is widely used in the Arabian Peninsula to treat various diseases, including cancer, its exact mechanism of action is still not defined. The objective of the present study is to investigate whether camel urine has anti-cancer effect on human cells in vitro.
The annexinV/PI assay was used to assess apoptosis, and immunoblotting analysis determined the effect of CU on different apoptotic and oncogenic proteins. Furthermore, flow cytometry and Elispot were utilized to investigate cytotoxicity and the effect on the cell cycle as well as the production of cytokines, respectively.
Camel urine showed cytotoxicity against various, but not all, human cancer cell lines, with only marginal effect on non-tumorigenic epithelial and normal fibroblast cells epithelial and fibroblast cells. Interestingly, 216 mg/ml of lyophilized CU inhibited cell proliferation and triggered more than 80% of apoptosis in different cancer cells, including breast carcinomas and medulloblastomas. Apoptosis was induced in these cells through the intrinsic pathway via Bcl-2 decrease. Furthermore, CU down-regulated the cancer-promoting proteins survivin, β-catenin and cyclin D1 and increased the level of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21. In addition, we have shown that CU has no cytotoxic effect against peripheral blood mononuclear cells and has strong immuno-inducer activity through inducing IFN-γ and inhibiting the Th2 cytokines IL-4, IL-6 and IL-10.
CU has specific and efficient anti-cancer and potent immune-modulator properties in vitro.
虽然骆驼尿（CU）在阿拉伯半岛被广泛用于治疗各种疾病，包括癌症，但它的确切作用机制仍未确定。本研究的目的是研究 CU 是否对体外人类细胞具有抗癌作用。
采用 AnnexinV/PI 法评估细胞凋亡，免疫印迹分析确定 CU 对不同凋亡和致癌蛋白的影响。此外，还利用流式细胞术和 Elispot 分别研究了细胞毒性以及对细胞周期和细胞因子产生的影响。
骆驼尿对多种但不是所有的人类癌细胞系均具有细胞毒性，对非肿瘤性上皮细胞和正常成纤维细胞的影响较小。有趣的是，216mg/ml 的冻干 CU 抑制细胞增殖，并在不同的癌细胞中诱导超过 80%的细胞凋亡，包括乳腺癌和髓母细胞瘤。这些细胞中的细胞凋亡是通过 Bcl-2 减少的内在途径诱导的。此外，CU 下调了促进癌症的蛋白 survivin、β-catenin 和 cyclin D1，并增加了细胞周期蛋白依赖性激酶抑制剂 p21 的水平。此外，我们还表明 CU 对外周血单核细胞没有细胞毒性作用，并且通过诱导 IFN-γ 和抑制 Th2 细胞因子 IL-4、IL-6 和 IL-10 具有很强的免疫诱导活性。
CU 具有特异性和高效的抗癌作用，并具有体外免疫调节特性。
