A Study of Anticancer Agents Derived from Plants Utilized in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

摘要

Cancer is caused by abnormal cellular growth. It has the ability to invade any tissue of the body and can spread from the area or origin throughout the body. Chemotherapy has been used for decades to treat cancer. However, the effectiveness of chemotherapeutic drugs are severely limited by drug resistance which can develop over time and the inherent severe toxic effects of chemotherapeutic drugs to normal tissue. Due to these limitations of cancer therapy, there is an urgent need to develop new anticancer drugs. A revitalization of interest in drug discovery research on natural products derived from plants has occurred in recent years, and the biological activity of these products has attracted the attention of chemists, biochemists, biologists, and microbiologists. As a part of traditional culture in China, medicinal plants from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have been used for thousands of years to treat and prevent diseases. Herbal medicine used in TCM plays an integral role in primary health care in East Asia, as it has been used for many generations by the Chinese community. Our findings suggest that extracts from Yao Ethnomedicine and compounds cis- and trans-suffruticosol D isolated from the seeds of Paeonia suffruticosa have promising chemotherapeutic potential for treating cancer. The most promising Yao Ethnomedicinal plants were the extracts from Extracts from Bidens biternata, Wedelia calendulacea and Stephania longa because of their cytotoxicity and selectivity. Our findings suggest also that both cis- and trans-suffruticosol D have promising chemotherapeutic potential for treating cancer. The experimental data suggested that both cis- and trans-suffruticosol D inhibited cancer cells through apoptosis induction.