The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine

The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
Volume 11, Number 2, 2005, pp. 245-256
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc,

The Chinese Herbal Medicine Tien Hsien Liquid Inhibits
Cell Growth and Induces Apoptosis in a Wide Variety
of Human Cancer Cells

ANDY SUN, Ph.D., D.D.S., 1,2 JEAN-SAN CHIA, Ph.D., D.D.S.,1-3
CHUN-PIN CHIANG, D.M.Sc., D.D.S.,1,2 SHU-PING HSUEN, M.S.,3 JIA-LING DU, M.S.,3
CHIA-WEI WU, M.S.,3 and WON-BO WANG, Ph.D.3

Abstract

Objective: Tien Hsien Liquid (THL) is a commercially available Chinese herbal mixture that has been used as an anticancer dietary supplement for more than 10 years. We recently showed that THL has strong immunomodulatory effects on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and T cells. To investigate the anti-tumor activity of THL further, we sought to test whether THL could induce apoptosis in various human cancer cell lines based on the fact that THL contains several components with tumor killing functions.

Design: The growth inhibitory effect to THL on human cervical carcinoma C-33A cells, human lung carcinoma H1299 cells, and human PMBC was assessed by counting viable cells using the trypan blue dye exclusion method. The apoptosis-inducing activity of THL in H1299cells was assessed by analyzing the cells with for assays:

  1. Hoechst 33258 nuclear DNA staining ;
  2. the terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay
  3. the nucleosomal DNA fragment ladder assay ; and
  4. the sub-G1 cell analysis

The activities of caspase –8, -9 and –3 in H1299 cells treated with or without THL were also measured to elucidate the possible mechanism underlying THL apoptosis-inducing effect. Finally, the apoptotic effect of THL on fifteen human cancer cell lines and normal human cells were analyzed by the TUNEL assay.


Result : THL could induce apoptosis in all human cancer cell lines tested but not in normal human cells. THL treatment of H1299 cancer cells resulted in activation of caspase –8, -9, and –3 and the inhibitors of these caspases could partially block THL-induced apoptosis.

Conclusions : 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.