The American journal of Chinese medicine
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Solanum lyratum (SLEC) Thunberg (Solanaceae) has been used as a traditional herbal medicine in China for centuries. Numerous studies have shown that SLEC Thunberg (Solanaceae) extract inhibited cancer cell growth in vitro. Herein, we investigated cell death-induced by EcoAc, water, chloroform, butanol extract of SLEC in human oral cancer cell lines (HSC-3, SAS, and CAL-27) in vitro. ⋯ SLEC promoted the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and Ca²⁺, decreased the mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm) and stimulated NO production in HSC-3, SAS, and CAL-27 cells. Specific caspase inhibitors (caspase-8 inhibitor: Z-IETD-FMK; caspase-9 inhibitor: Z-LEHD-FMK and caspase-3 inhibitor: Z-DEVD-FMK) for caspase-8, -9, and -3 blocked SLE-activated caspase-8, -9, and -3 activities which were associated with an increase in the percentage of viable cells. Taken together, SLE induced G0/G1 arrest and apoptosis via extrinsic- and intrinsic-dependent pathways in HSC-3, SAS, and CAL-27 cells.
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Meta Analysis
A systematic review of integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine for managing irritable bowel syndrome.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been commonly used by Chinese practitioners to treat irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). However, the effectiveness of combining TCM with Western medicine in managing IBS has not been evaluated systematically. In this study, we evaluated the clinical effectiveness of combining TCM and Western medicine in the treatment of IBS via meta-analyses. ⋯ These results demonstrated that treating IBS with integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicines showed better effectiveness than conventional Western medicine alone. Although due to the quality of the included studies, our results might possess a high risk of bias. TCM, particularly Chinese proprietary medicine, with the benefits of low-cost, easy to use, and good palatability, would be an attractive option to be used in conjunction with conventional Western medicine to manage IBS patients.
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Butein is a polyphenol, one of the compounds of chalcones, which are flavonoids that are widely biosynthesized in plants, and exhibits different pharmacological activities. Plants containing butein have been used in Chinese traditional medicine. Recently, it has been reported that butein suppresses proliferation and triggers apoptosis in various human cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. ⋯ In addition, butein also down-regulated the expressions of the inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) proteins, XIAP, survivin, CIAP-1, and CIAP-2. This indicates that the inhibition of IAP proteins was also involved in butein-induced apoptosis. The results of our study suggest that butein may be a promising anticancer agent in treating ovarian cancer.
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Ursolic acid (UA), a pentacyclic triterpenoid, is known to exert antitumor activity in breast, lung, liver and colon cancers. Nonetheless, the underlying mechanism of ursolic acid in prostate cancer cells still remains unclear. In the present study, we report the chemotherapeutic effects of ursolic acid as assessed using in vitro and in vivo models. ⋯ Further, administration of UA significantly inhibited the growth of LNCaP prostate tumor xenografts in athymic nude mice, which was associated with inhibition of cell proliferation, induction of apoptosis of tumor cells and decreased expression of PI3K downstream factors, such as p-Akt and p-mTOR in tumor xenograft tissues. Our study demonstrates that UA not only inhibits cell growth but also induces apoptosis through modulation of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway in human prostate cancer cells. We suggest that UA may be a new chemotherapeutic candidate against prostate cancer.
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Meta Analysis
Compound Danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza) dripping pill for coronary heart disease: an overview of systematic reviews.
Compound Danshen dripping pill (CDDP) is commonly used to treat coronary heart disease (CHD) in China. However, clinical practice has not been informed by evidence from relevant systematic reviews (SRs). This overview aims at summarizing evidence from SRs on CDDP for the treatment of CHD. ⋯ Moreover, the overall quality of evidence in the SRs was poor, ranging from "very low" to "moderate", and most of the included SRs were of "low" (3/13, 23.1%) or "moderate" (9/13, 69.2%) quality with many serious flaws. Current SRs suggested potential benefits of CDDP for the treatment of CHD. However, high-quality evidence is warranted to support the application of CDDP in treating CHD.