[Antitumor effects of a plant extract mixture]

Cancer is the most common cause of death in Japan. Fundamental and clinical studies on cancer were conducted from the viewpoint of Western medicine so far. However, a sustained complete remission has not been achieved yet. In order to alleviate the side effects of anticancer drugs, some traditional herbal medicines (Kampo medicines) have been prescribed to cancer patients. We have been studying on antitumor substances in medicinal herbs and found an antitumor medicinal herb named Rhus verniciflua (lacquer, Urushi in Japanese). To investigate the antitumor effect in vitro, a plant extract mixture was prepared from six medicinal herbs containing lacquer. The plant extract mixture containing lacquer (Rv-PEM) inhibited the proliferation of several mouse and human tumor cell lines. Rv-PEM had more potent inhibitory effect on the proliferation of human leukemia cell lines (MOLT-3, KG-1) than on other tumor cell lines. The IC50 values of Rv-PEM on MOLT-3 and KG-1 cells were 0.208 and 0.293 mg/mL, respectively. After treating Rv-PEM to the tumor cells, DNA fragmentation and Caspase-3 and -9 activity increased in the treated cells. The mechanisms of the inhibitory proliferation activity of Rv-PEM would involve apoptosis of human leukemia cells (MOLT-3, KG-1, K-562) by the mitochondrial pathway.