Synergistic effect of KIOM-CRC#BP10A, an ethanol extract of two medicinal herbs, with cisplatin in A549 lung cancer xenograft model

Lung cancer is the most frequent malignancy and also one of the leading causes of mortality in both men and women worldwide. Despite current advances in diagnostics and medicines, the incidence of lung cancer is increasing and effective treatment is very challenging.

Using medicinal plants to fight against various human diseases including cancer have been widely practiced all around the world, especially in China, India as well as Korea. It is well recognized that the traditional medicine has long history of human use without or little harmful effect, so it is expected to have little malicious side effect.

In this study, we tested the anticancer activity of KIOM-CRC#BP10A (BP10A), along with its effect on the chemotherapeutic activity of cisplatin in mouse tumor xenograft model using A549 human lung cancer cell line. BP10A is an ethanol extract of 1:1 mixture of two medicinal herbs, Peucedanum praeruptorum Dunn and Descurainia sophia (L.) Webb ex Prantl.

The oral administration of BP10A attenuated tumor growth in A549 xenograft model compared to vehicle (0.5% carboxymethyl cellulose). Although the antitumor effect of BP10A was lower than that of cisplatin, mice treated with BP10A showed no sign of body weight loss and organotoxicity which were typical adverse effects of cisplatin. Additionally, BP10A enhanced the anticancer efficacy of cisplatin, so only half dose of cisplatin was required for the same anticancer effects in this animal model.

Our data suggest that herbal medicines and phytochemicals such as BP10A can be a good candidate for adjuvant therapy for lung cancer which effectively enhance the efficacy and decrease side effects of conventional chemotherapeutic drugs.