Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2003 Apr;9(4):670-3.
doi: 10.3748/wjg.v9.i4.670.

Effects of astragali radix on the growth of different cancer cell lines

Jiang Lin  1 , Hui-Fang Dong, J J Oppenheim, O M Howard
Affiliations

Effects of astragali radix on the growth of different cancer cell lines

Jiang Lin et al. World J Gastroenterol. 2003 Apr.

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the inhibitory effect of a Chinese herb medicine Astragali radix (AR) on growth of different cancer cell line.

Methods: To observe the in vitro effects of AR on tumor cell proliferation by trypan blue exclusion, MTS method and tritium thymidine incorporation assay. Apoptosis was detected by DNA ladder method.

Results: The inhibition rates of AR on the cell respiration of AGS, KATOIII, HT29, MDA231, MEL7 and MEL14 were 68.25 %, 62.36 %, 22.8 %, 27.69 %, 2.85 % and 5.14 % respectively at the concentration of 100 ug/ml; it inhibited AGS DNA synthesis by 87.33 % at the concentration of 50 ug/ml. The inhibitory effect on AGS was time-and dose-dependent. AR did not induce apoptosis in AGS cells.

Conclusion: AR specifically inhibits gastric cancer cells growth in vitro and the mechanism is mainly cytostatic but not cytotoxic or inducing apoptosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Effect of AR on the growth of 6 cancer cell lines. Cells were treated with AR at the concentration of 100 µg/mL for 48 hrs and cell growth was measured with MTS method.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Effect of AR on AGS viability. AGS cells were treated with different concentrations of AR for 48 hrs and cell viability was measured with trypan blue. At or below the concentra-tion of 50 µg/mL, AR was not cytotoxic to AGS cells. But at the concentration of 100 µg/mL, it showed cytotoxicity on AGS.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Dose-dependent effect of AR on AGS growth. AGS cells were treated with a serial of diluted concentrations (1, 12.5, 25, 50 and 100 µg/mL) of AR for 48 hrs and cell growth was measured with MTS method. The inhibition effect of AR was improved accompanied by increase of concentration.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Time-dependent effect of AR on AGS growth. AGS cells were treated with 50 µg/mL of AR for 6, 12, 24 and 48 hrs. The cell growth was measured by MTS method. The inhibition effect of AR on AGS growth was enhanced with incubation time.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Effect of AR on DNA synthesis of AGS. AGS cells were treated with a serial of diluted concentrations (1, 12.5, 25, 50 and 100 µg/mL) of AR for 48 hrs and cell growth was mea-sured with tritium labeled thymidine incorporation assay. AR started to inhibit the DNA synthesis of AGS at 1 µg/mL and the inhibiting effect was dose-dependent.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Cha RJ, Zeng DW, Chang QS. [Non-surgical treatment of small cell lung cancer with chemo-radio-immunotherapy and traditional Chinese medicine] Zhonghua Neike Zazhi. 1994;33:462–466. - PubMed
    1. Li NQ. [Clinical and experimental study on shen-qi injection with chemotherapy in the treatment of malignant tumor of digestive tract] Zhongguo Zhongxiyi Jiehe Zazhi. 1992;12:588–592, 579. - PubMed
    1. Kurashige S, Akuzawa Y, Endo F. Effects of astragali radix extract on carcinogenesis, cytokine production, and cytotoxicity in mice treated with a carcinogen, N-butyl-N'-butanolnitrosoamine. Cancer Invest. 1999;17:30–35. - PubMed
    1. Lau BH, Ruckle HC, Botolazzo T, Lui PD. Chinese medicinal herbs inhibit growth of murine renal cell carcinoma. Cancer Biother. 1994;9:153–161. - PubMed
    1. Wang Y, Qian XJ, Hadley HR, Lau BH. Phytochemicals potentiate interleukin-2 generated lymphokine-activated killer cell cytotoxicity against murine renal cell carcinoma. Mol Biother. 1992;4:143–146. - PubMed

Substances