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Inhibitory effects of Lang-du extract on the in vitro and in vivo growth of melanoma cells and its molecular mechanisms of action

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of Lang-du extract (LDE) from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Euphorbia fischeriana Steud on the in vitro and in vivo growth of melanoma cells and its molecular mechanisms of action. Our present results have shown that LDE significantly suppressed the in vitro melanoma cell growth in dose- and time-dependent manners. LDE also displayed the synergistic effect with γ-radiation on the reduction of the cell viability in melanoma cells. The animal experimental results further confirmed that compared with the control group without drug treatment, the tumor volume in mice was significantly and time-dependently less in LDE group. The absolute weight of solid tumor in the LDE group was 7-fold lower than that in the control group. Western blot analysis indicated that LDE markedly down-regulated the expression of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 and up-regulated the level of pro-apoptotic protein Bax, eventually leading the reduction of Bcl-2/Bax protein ratios both in the cultured melanoma cells and in the tumors from melanoma-bearing mice. In addition, LDE significantly reduced the tumor progression-associated protein levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF), and osteopontin (OPN) in tumors from the LDE-treated mice. Our findings suggest that LDE may have a wide therapeutic and/or adjuvant therapeutic application in the treatment of melanoma and other cancer.

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Abbreviations

LDE:

Lang-du extract

VEGF:

Vascular endothelial growth factor

HGF/SF:

Hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor

OPN:

Osteopontin

PI3K:

Phosphatidylinositol 3′-kinase

17-AJB:

17-acetoxyjolkinolide B

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Acknowledgments

Grant support

This work is supported in part by grants from the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China to G.Z, from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of the People’s Republic of China to G.Z, Projects of Yantai University to GZ, Project from the National Natural Science Foundation of China to GZ (No. 30973553), and grants from the Department of Science and Technology of Shandong Province to GZ (Y2008C71; 2009GG10002087), and the grant from the PLA research fund of medicine and health to Y.W (06G034). The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Yantai University, No. 30, Qing Quan Lu, Lai Shan Qu, 264005, Yantai, Shandong Province, China

    Liping Wang, Huiying Duan, Kun Liu & Guoying Zhang

  2. Bingzhou Medical College, No. 346, Guanhai Road, Lai Shan Qu, 264003, Yantai, Shandong Province, China

    Liping Wang & Yishan Wang

  3. The Center of Non-Traumatic Treatment and Diagnosis of Tumor, Binzhou Medical College Affiliated The PLA 107 Hospital, No. 7, Southern Zhichu Road, 264002, Yantai, Shandong Province, China

    Yishan Wang, Peng Jiang & Zhen Qu

  4. Department of Applied Biological Science, Tokyo Noko University, Saiwai-cho 3-5-8, Fuchu, Tokyo, 183-8509, Japan

    Kazumi Yagasaki

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  1. Liping Wang
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  2. Huiying Duan
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Correspondence to Yishan Wang or Guoying Zhang.

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Liping Wang and Huiying Duan contributed equally to this work.

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Wang, L., Duan, H., Wang, Y. et al. Inhibitory effects of Lang-du extract on the in vitro and in vivo growth of melanoma cells and its molecular mechanisms of action. Cytotechnology 62, 357–366 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10616-010-9283-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10616-010-9283-z

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