Skip Navigation



eCAM Advance Access published online on December 26, 2007
eCAM, doi:10.1093/ecam/nem159
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Rozanova, N.
Right arrow Articles by Heck, D. E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Rozanova, N.
Right arrow Articles by Heck, D. E.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?


© 2007 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Catalytic Therapy of Cancer with Ascorbate and Extracts of Medicinal Herbs

Nadejda Rozanova1, Jin Z. Zhang1 and Diane E. Heck2

1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 and 2Department of Cancer Biology and Pharmacology, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Peoria, IL 61605, USA

Catalytic therapy (CT) is a cancer treatment modality based on the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) using a combination of substrate molecules and a catalyst. The most frequently used substrate/catalyst pair is ascorbate/Co phthalocyanine (PcCo). In the present work, herb extracts containing pigments have been studied as a catalyst in place of PcCo. Extracts from herbs are expected to have efficiency comparable with that of phthalocyanines but as natural products, to exhibit fewer side effects. The present studies demonstrate that a combined use of ascorbate and herbal extracts results in ROS production and a significant decrease in the number of cancer cells after a single in vitro treatment. Treatment with ascorbate in conjunction with extracts prepared from several medicinal herbs stimulated apoptosis and disrupted the cell cycle. The number of cells accumulating in the sub-G0/G1 stage of the cell cycle was increased 2- to 7-fold, and cells in G2/M increased 1.5- to 20-fold, indicating that the treatment protocol was highly effective in suppressing DNA synthesis and potentially reflecting DNA damage in the tumor cells. In addition, 20–40% of the cells underwent apoptosis within 24 h of completing treatment. Our results suggest that herbal extracts can function as CT catalysts in the treatment of cancer.

For reprints and all correspondence: Nadejda Rozanova, Research Associate, University of California, Santa Cruz, 367 Western Dr. Apt G, Santa Cruz, CA, 95060, USA. Tel: (831)429-1625; Fax: (831)429-1625; E-mail: rozanovan{at}hotmail.com, E-mail: rozanova{at}ucsc.edu

Received January 24, 2007; accepted July 18, 2007


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.