Contributed by Ron Gara| 19 April, 2005 00:34 GMT
Cancer cells treated with E804, a derivative an herb used in traditional Chinese medicine, showed a decrease in the levels of activated Stat3, a protein known to play a role in tumor cell survival and proliferation.
Compounds derived from the active ingredient of a traditional Chinese herbal medicine used to treat leukemia, indirubin, may be useful in curbing the growth of certain cancers, suggests a new report in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In many cancer types, the Stat3 protein, known to play a role in tumor cell survival and proliferation, is activated by c-Src, an enzyme implicated in tumor formation and metastasis.
Stat3 Activity Inhibited
Dr. Richard Jove of the
Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Florida, and colleagues synthesized and characterized 10 indirubin derivatives.
One derivative, E804, inhibited Stat3 activity in breast- and prostate-cancer cell lines, and in vitro E804 blocked c-Src activity.
Cancer cells treated with E804 showed a decrease in the levels of activated Stat3.
Potential as Cancer Treatment
The authors also showed that E804 induced apoptosis (programmed cell death) in breast cancer cells by down-regulating the expression of Mcl-1 and Survivin, proteins known to block apoptosis.
The authors suggest that the indirubin derivative E804 has potential as a cancer therapeutic agent. |
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