BackgroundAdvanced cancer is a multifactorial disease that demands treatments targeting multiple cellular pathways. Chinese herbal cocktail which contains various phytochemicals may target multiple dys-regulated pathways in cancer cells and thus may provide an alternative/complementary way to treat cancers. Previously we reported that the Chinese herbal cocktail Tien-Hsien Liguid (THL) can specifically induce apoptosis in various cancer cells and have immuno-modulating activity. In this study, we further evaluated the anti-metastatic, anti-angiogenic and anti-tumor activities of THL with a series of in vitro and in vivo experiments.MethodsThe migration and invasion of cancer cells and endothelial cells was determined by Boyden chamber transwell assays. The effect of THL on pulmonary metastasis was done by injecting CT-26 colon cancer cells intravenously to syngenic mice. The in vitro and in vivo microvessel formation was determined by the tube formation assay and the Matrigel plug assay, respectively. The in vivo anti-tumor effect of THL was determined by a human MDA-MB-231 breast cancer xenograft model. The expression of metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, MMP-9, and urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) was measured by gelatin zymography. The expression of HIF-1α and the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 were determined by Western blot.ResultsTHL inhibited the migration and invasion ability of various cancer cells in vitro, decreased the secretion of MMP-2, MMP-9, and uPA and the activity of ERK1/2 in cancer cells, and suppressed pulmonary metastasis of CT-26 cancer cells in syngenic mice. Moreover, THL inhibited the migration, invasion, and tube formation of endothelial cells in vitro, decreased the secretion of MMP-2 and uPA in endothelial cells, and suppressed neovascularization in Matrigel plugs in mice. Besides its inhibitory effect on endothelial cells, THL inhibited hypoxia-induced HIF-1α and vascular endothelial growth factor-A expression in cancer cells. Finally, our results show that THL inhibited the growth of human MDA-MB-231 breast cancer xenografts in NOD-SCID mice. This suppression of tumor growth was associated with decreased microvessel formation and increased apoptosis caused by THL.ConclusionOur data demonstrate that THL had broad-spectra anti-cancer activities and merits further evaluation for its use in cancer therapy.

Transcription and replication of the influenza A virus RNA genome occur in the nucleus through the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase consisting of PB1, PB2, and PA. Cellular factors that associate with the viral polymerase complex play important roles in these processes. To look for cellular factors that could associate with influenza A virus PA protein, we have carried out a yeast two-hybrid screen using a HeLa cell cDNA library. We identified six cellular proteins that may interact with PA. We focused our study on one of the new PA-interacting proteins, HAX1, a protein with antiapoptotic function. By using glutathione S-transferase pulldown and coimmunoprecipitation assays, we demonstrate that HAX1 specifically interacts with PA in vitro and in vivo and that HAX1 interacts with the nuclear localization signal domain of PA. Nuclear accumulation of PA was increased in HAX1-knockdown cells, and this phenotype could be reversed by reexpression of HAX1, indicating that HAX1 can impede nuclear transport of PA. As a consequence, knockdown of HAX1 resulted in a significant increase in virus yield and polymerase activity in a minigenome assay, and this phenotype could be reversed by reexpression of HAX1, indicating that HAX1 can inhibit influenza A virus propagation. Together, these results not only provide insight into the mechanism underlying nuclear transport of PA but also identify an intrinsic host factor that restricts influenza A virus infection.

THL has been used by numerous patients with cancer for many years with no known adverse effect. Our present study showing that THL had a broad-range tumor killing function has provided a molecular basis underlying THL therapeutic activity. Furthermore, because THL had apoptotic effects only on cancer cells but not on normal cells, this selectivity suggests that THL could be a potential cancer therapeutic agent.

Previous studies have shown that soybean fermentation products can act as cancer chemoprevention or therapeutic agents. In this study, the anticancer activities of a fermentation product of soybean, black bean, and green bean mixture (BN999) were investigated. We found that BN999 inhibited the growth of human breast cancer AU565 cells and prostate adenocarcinoma PC-3 cells but not that of normal human cells. BN999 induced apoptosis in various human cancer cells but not in normal human cells. BN999 treatment of AU565 cancer cells resulted in activation of calpain and caspase-8, -9, and -3, suggesting that BN999 induces apoptosis via receptor-, mitochondria-, and endoplasmic reticulum-mediated pathways. Finally, we showed that BN999 inhibited the growth of mouse CT-26 colon cancer xenografts in syngenic BALB/c mice without causing obvious side effects. Together, these data suggest that BN999 has potential to be used as a cancer chemoprevention or therapeutic agent.

Previously, we reported that SV40 T/t-common polypeptide, which contains the NH 2 -terminal common domain of SV40 large T and small t antigens, can repress HER2/neu (also known as erbB-2) expression and consequently suppress the tumorigenic potential of the HER2/neu-overexpressing ovarian carcinoma cells. Here we report that T/t-common could specifically induce apoptosis in HER2/neu-overexpressing human cancer cell lines but not in nontransformed cell lines and HER2/neu low-expressing human cancer cell lines. The ability of T/t-common to induce apoptosis in HER2/neuoverexpressing cancer cells was derived from its ability to inhibit HER2/neu because reexpression of a large amount of HER2/neu could block apoptosis induced by T/t-common. T/t-common expression in HER2/neu-overexpressing SK-OV-3 cancer cells led to down-regulation of Bcl-2 and Bcl-X L , and overexpression of Bcl-2 could inhibit the ability of T/t-common to induce apoptosis in these cells. Therefore, the apoptosis-inducing activity of T/t-common is related to its ability to inhibit Bcl-2 expression in HER2/neu-overexpressing cancer cells. Consistent with the apoptosis-inducing activity of T/t-common, we found that T/t-common could specifically inhibit the soft-agarose colony-forming ability of the HER2/ neu-overexpressing human cancer cell lines but not that of the HER2/neu low-expressing human cancer cell lines. Finally, we showed that T/t-common could specifically sensitize HER2/neu-overexpressing human cancer cell lines, but not HER2/neu low-expressing human cancer cell lines, to chemotherapeutic agent etoposide. Together, these data suggest that T/t-common alone or in combination with chemotherapy may provide a new approach for treatment of cancers that overexpress HER2/neu. (Cancer Res 2006; 66(11): 5847-57)