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Inhibition of vascular endothelial growth factor expression by Chinese medicine of Hedyotis diffusa Willd herbal compounds

  • Research Article
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Frontiers in Biology

Abstract

The Hedyotis diffusa Willd herbal compounds (HDWHCs) are commonly used as Chinese medicine to treat cancer patients with established clinical therapeutic efficacy in China. However, the underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated. In this study, we used freeze-dried powder of the water extracts of HDWHCs to investigate the potential mechanisms of HDWHCs in cancer treatment. HDWHCs treatment significantly inhibited vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA levels and VEGF transcriptional activation in cancer cells. HDWHCs also had a remarkable inhibitory effect on the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor 1alpha (HIF-1alpha). Forced expression of HIF-1α restored VEGF transcriptional activation inhibited by HDWHCs, indicating that HDWHCs suppressed VEGF expression through decreasing HIF-1alpha expression. Moreover, HDWHCs inhibited cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression, and overexpression of HIF-1alpha restored HDWHCs’ inhibitory effect on COX-2 at transcriptional level. These findings may provide better understanding of HDWHCs’ anti-cancer mechanism in cancer treatment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, Department of Pathology, Cancer Center, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210029, China

    Min Wang, Zhumei Shi, Dan Liu, Jiahao Sha & Bing-Hua Jiang

  2. School of Life Science, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215021, China

    Dan Liu

  3. Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210046, China

    Gong-Yu Zhang

  4. Department of Pathology, Anatomy and Cell Biology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, USA

    Bing-Hua Jiang

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  1. Min Wang
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  2. Zhumei Shi
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  3. Dan Liu
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  4. Gong-Yu Zhang
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  5. Jiahao Sha
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  6. Bing-Hua Jiang
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Correspondence to Bing-Hua Jiang.

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Both authors contributed equally to this work

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Wang, M., Shi, Z., Liu, D. et al. Inhibition of vascular endothelial growth factor expression by Chinese medicine of Hedyotis diffusa Willd herbal compounds. Front. Biol. 5, 361–368 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11515-010-0033-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11515-010-0033-6

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