The Chinese Herbal Medicineliquid Inhibits Cell Growth and Induces Apoptosis in a Wide Variety of Human Cancer Cells

Tien-Hsien liquid (THL) is a commercially available Chinese herbal mixture that has been usedas an anticancer dietary supplement for more than 10 years. We recently showed that THL has strong immunomodulatoryeffects on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and T cells. To investigate the antitumoractivity of THL further, we sought to test whether THL could induce apoptosis in various human cancercell lines based on the fact that THL contains several components with tumor killing functions.The growth inhibitory effect of THL on human cervical carcinoma C-33A cells, human lung carcinomaH1299 cells, and human PBMC was assessed by counting viable cells using the trypan blue dye exclusionmethod. The apoptosis-inducing activity of THL in H 1299 cells was assessed by analyzing the cells withfour assays: (1) Hoechst 33258 nuclear DNA staining; (2) the terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediateddUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay; (3) the nucleosomal DNA fragment ladder assay; and (4) the sub-G1cell analysis. The activities of caspase-8, -9, and -3 in H1299 cells treated with or without THL were also measuredto elucidate the possible mechanism underlying THL apoptosis-inducing effect. Finally, the apoptotic effectof THL on fifteen human cancer cell lines and normal human cells were analyzed by the TUNEL assay.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 thesecaspases could partially block THL- induced apoptosis.THL has been used by numerous patients with cancer for many years with no known adverseeffect. Our present study showing that THL had a broad-range tumor killing function has provided a molecularbasis underlying THL therapeutic activity. Furthermore, because THL had apoptotic effects only on cancercells but not on normal cells, this selectivity suggests that THL could be a potential cancer therapeutic agent