Your Biology Resource

Volume 8 | No. 6

Traditional Medicinals and Cancer Lynn Stephenson, Product Specialist, Sigma® Life Science Chloe McClanahan, Product Manager, Sigma Life Science

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a healing art that has been is a common mechanistic endpoint of many effective anti-cancer practiced for thousands of years. The practice of TCM is a holistic therapies. Within the TCM compounds that have been isolated, approach that includes the use of herbal preparations, acupuncture, induction of apoptosis is the most common mechanism by which and dietary therapy with the goal of returning the body to a healthy, TCM-derived compounds elicit their anti-tumor effects.1,4 For example, balanced state. Under TCM theory, cancer is a disease that arises Cantharidin, isolated from the Chinese Blister beetle, has been reported due to disturbances in the body from both endogenous physical to induce apoptosis in a variety of tumor cell lines including human conditions and exogenous pathogenic stresses and the goal of therapy leukemic, colon cancer, and human hepatoma, most likely through is on restoring the body’s natural defenses.1 Herbal preparations are inhibition of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A).5 Of the compounds a common component of TCM and there has been an increase in studied to date that have shown anti-tumor effects, the vast majority research interest in understanding the molecular mechanisms by induce apoptosis, primarily through the regulation of apoptotic which many of these medicinal herbs elicit their effects with the hope signaling molecules.1 These studies are helping to validate that many that these can be translated into new therapies. Many commonly used of the compounds used in TCM have true biological effects that may drugs in cancer treatment, for example paclitaxel and camptothecin, be translated into new therapeutics. are derived from natural sources and TCM, with over 7,000 herbs, The materia medica of traditional medicinal systems represent a rich represents a rich source of potential new compounds.2 source of time-tested therapeutics and thus, an excellent source of potential new bioactive molecules. In particular, pharmaceutical companies have been investigating compounds isolated from medicinal herbs as a potential source of new lead compounds for drug discovery. TCM has been the source of many new drugs including artemisinin, camptothecin, triptolizde, and ephedrine.6 The discovery of camptothecin highlights the tremendous potential that can be gained from research into plant compounds. Camptothecin, a cytotoxic topoisomerase inhibitor, is found in the Chinese happy tree (Camptotheca acuminate) which was of research interest because it has been used in TCM formulations for thousands of years. This discovery resulted from a cross-discipline research program between botanists at the USDA and chemists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) during the 1960s.7 Camptothecin analogs were eventually made available as pharmaceuticals for the treatment of various cancer types.

Jars of ginseng root typically seen in a TCM pharmacy. Ginseng extracts contain a class of bioactive During the 1960s, Research Triangle Institute developed innovative saponins termed ginsenosides that have been shown to reverse multi-drug resistance in methods for plant extract fractionation and subsequent in vitro chemotherapy research. cytotoxicity testing of isolated compounds.7 These methods, derived Recent work has begun to unravel the molecular mechanisms by from a reductionist research approach, were critical to camptothecin which many TCM-derived compounds elicit their antitumor effects. The discovery but most TCM formulas are based on the synergistic effects targets of these compounds tend to broadly fall into three categories, of multiple components, each containing many potentially bioactive those targeting topoisomerases, those inducing apoptosis, and those disrupting oncogenic signaling pathways.1 Resistance to apoptosis is a common hallmark of cancer cells3 and induction of apoptosis Your Biology Resource Traditional Medicinals and Cancer | Volume 8 No. 6

ingredients. Recent research is indicating that a systems biology or Cat. No. Product Description network biology approach may be a better course for understanding L9283 Luteolin the combinatorial effects of compounds within a TCM preparation. O9639 Oridonin Advances in instrumentation are enabling researchers to integrate P0020 Pristimerin chemical identification, pharmacological, metabolomics, and T3652 Triptolide bioinformatics data from herbal preparations. Analysts at the University W0769 Wogonin of Copenhagen used a new platform that combines HPLC and NMR chemical identification with a metabolomics-based radical scavenging C7632 Cantharidin assay to determine both the chemical and pharmacological fingerprint R7269 Rhein of a willow bark extract. Willow bark has been applied historically in Z3902 Zerumbone TCM as an analgesic but it also exhibits anti-proliferative activity and O0641 Oroxylin A induces apoptosis in vitro.8-9 I3766 Isoliquiritigenin A1010 Arsenic(III) oxide Sigma offers a unique portfolio of high-purity secondary metabolites derived from Traditional Chinese Medicinal herbs that may be applied S3757 a-Solanine individually in cancer screening assays or as benchmarks in complex H35803 Paeonol biological network analysis. 361593 Artemisinin A3731 Artesunate 94121 Baicalin C7727 Curcumin M5319 Matrine L8170 Pseudolaric Acid B S7576 Shikonin T4952 Tanshinone IIA S0327 Scutellarein B0189 Casticin R4033 Rosmarinic Acid D7321 Diosmetin O0891 Oxymatrine M3824 alpha-Mangostin T5330 Tanshinone I D0947 Dihydrotanshinone I P0023 Punicalagin The fruit hull from mangosteens are used in TCM as an anti-inflammatory treatment. A2987 Atractylenolide III γ-Mangostin and α-Mangostin (Sigma Cat. Nos. M6824 and M3824), xanthones isolated from mangosteen, have been shown to have anti-cancer activity, specifically cytotoxicity, apoptosis, and B9938 Calycosin anti-tumorigenicity. M6699 Maslinic Acid N3915 Notoginsenoside R1 Key Products SML0184 Ginsenoside Rg3

Cat. No. Product Description G0777 Ginsenoside-Rb1 from Panax ginseng D7439 Dihydroartemisinin (Korean ginseng) root B0261 Bufalin G1027 Ginsenoside-Re from Panax ginseng (Korean ginseng) root C9911 Camptothecin G0902 Ginsenoside-Rc from Panax ginseng C0869 Celastrol (Korean ginseng) root A9361 Artemether G8171 Gambogic acid SML0280 Indirubin Your Biology Resource Traditional Medicinals and Cancer | Volume 8 No. 6

References 1. Hsiao, W. L. W. and Liu, L. The Role of Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicines in Cancer Therapy - from TCM Theory to Mechanistic Insights. Planta Med, 76, 1118-1131 (2010). 2. Parry, J. Taking a New Look at an Ancient Tradition. The Scientist 19, (2005). 3. Hanahan, D. and Weinberg, W. Hallmarks of Cancer: The Next Generation. Cell, 144, 646- 674 (2011). 4. Parekh, H.S. et al. A New Dawn for the Use of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Cancer Therapy. Mol. Cancer, 8, 21 (2009). 5. Youns, M. et al. Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCMs) for Molecular Targeted Therapies of Tumours. Curr. Drug Disc Technol. 7, 2-12 (2010). 6. Li, X.-J., et al. Chemoinformatics Approaches for Traditional Chinese Medicine Research and Case Application in Anticancer Drug Discovery. Curr. Drug Disc Technol. 7, 22-31, (2010). Curcumin (Sigma Cat. No. C1386) is a natural phenolic compound isolated from the medicinal 7. Ginsberg, J. The Discovery of Capmptothecin and Taxol. In plant turmeric. It has been studied as a potential chemotherapeutic. American Chemical Society Education. Retrieved November 5, 2012 from http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/ content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_ id=926&content_id=CTP_004450&use_sec=true&sec_url var=region1. 8. Afnolet, S. et al. Comprehensive analysis of commercial willow bark extracts by new technology platform: Combined use of metabolomics, high-performance liquid chromatography-solid- phase extraction-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and high-resolution radical scavenging assay. J. Chromatogr. 1262, 130-137, (2012). 9. Hostanka, K. et al. Willow Bark Extract (BNO1455) and its Fractions Suppress Growth and Induce Apoptosis in Human Colon and Lung Cancer Cells. Cancer Detect. Prev. 31, 129-139 (2007).

©2013 Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC. All rights reserved. SIGMA and SIGMA-ALDRICH are trademarks of Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC, registered in the US and other countries. Where bio begins is a trademark of Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC. Sigma brand products are sold through Sigma-Aldrich, Inc. Purchaser must determine the suitability of the product(s) for their particular use. Additional terms and conditions may apply. Please see product information on the Sigma-Aldrich website at www.sigmaaldrich.com and/ or on the reverse side of the invoice or packing slip.

sh6060 1013