Effects of a Chinese Herbal Medicine, Guan-Jen-Huang (Aeginetia indica Linn.)‎, on Renal Cancer Cell Growth and Metastasis

Abstract EN

Aeginetia indica Linn.

(Guan-Jen-Huang, GJH), a traditional Chinese herb, has the potential to be an immunomodulatory agent.

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of GJH in the treatment of renal cancer.

Concentration-effect curves for the influence of GJH on cellular proliferation showed a biphasic shape.

Besides, GJH had a synergistic effect on cytotoxicity when combined with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)which may be due to the alternation of the chemotherapeutic agent resistance-related genes and due to the synergistic effects on apoptosis.

In addition, treatment with GJH extract markedly reduced 786-O cell adherence to human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and decreased 786-O cell migration and invasion.

In a xenograft animal model, GJH extract had an inhibitory effect on tumor cell-induced metastasis.

Moreover, western blot analysis showed that the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) in 786-O cells was significantly decreased by treatment with GJH extract through inactivation of nuclear factor-κB (NF–κB).

These results suggest that GJH extract has a synergistic effect on apoptosis induced by chemotherapeutic agents and an inhibitory effect on cell adhesion, migration, and invasion, providing evidence for the use of water-based extracts of GJH as novel alternative therapeutic agents in the treatment of human renal cancer.