Herbal Cascara Sagrada's Emodin Kills Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Cells, in Vivo and Vitro

By Kyle J. Norton

Herbal Cascara sagrada may be the next pharmaceutical target to identify the single ingredient for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), some scientists suggested.

Lung cancer is a medical condition characterized by abnormal growth of the cells in the lung's tissue.

The most common form of primary lung cancers is derived from epithelial cells.

According to the statistics provided by the American Cancer Society, in the US, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths.

In 2007, lung cancer causes the death of 158,683 people, including 88,329 men and 70,354 women.

Most common types of lung cancers include
* Squamous-cell carcinoma often found in an outer area of the lung,

* Large-cell carcinoma found in the center of the lung by an air tube

* Adenocarcinoma found in any part of the lung.

Non-small cell lung cancer, the most common type of lung cancer, usually grows and spreads methodically and predictably.

The most common risk factors of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are long term smoking and people exposed to long-term second-hand smoke.

Dr. Ryo Maeda MD, the lead scientists in the study to investigate the association between cigarette smoking and clinicopathological characteristics of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and to evaluate its significance as a predictor of recurrence after resection showed that
* The 5 years of the survival rate of never and ever smokers in patients with stage I is 92%, compared to 76%, in smokers.

* The 5-year recurrence-free proportions (RFPs) for never and ever smokers were 89% compared to 80%, in smokers.

At the final report, the doctors wrote, "Smoking history showed the different impact on postoperative recurrence in patients with NSCLC between stage I and stages II and III, and depending on histology in stage I patients" and "Disease stages should be considered while evaluating smoking history as a predictor of recurrence".

These results not only indicated smoking has a strong impact on the increased incidence of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and but also reduces years of the survival.

Cascara sagrada is a species of buckthorn, genus Rhamnus, belonging to the family Rhamnaceae, native to western North America.

The plant bark has been used in traditional medicine for gastrointestinal support. and it is thought to have a laxative and natural cleansing, etc., effect.

Besides the main compound of anthraquinones, Cascara sagrada also contains anthraquinone glycosides, (emodin, frangulin, iso-emodin, aloe-emodin, and chrysophanol), rhein, aloin, malic acid, tannic acid, cascarosides A, B, C, and D, and hydroxy anthracene derivatives (HAD), etc.

On finding a natural ingredient for the treatment of nonsmall cell lung cancer, researchers examined the effect of Emodin, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor is a natural anthraquinone derivative found in the roots and rhizomes of numerous plants including herbal Cascara Sagrada.

Compared to the effect of cisplatin, a chemo drug, Emodin, exposure to the human NSCLC cells to emodin decreased cisplatin-elicited in the inhibition of the metaplasia and tumor development and increased the inability of a protein associated to cell DNA repaired.

Application of emodin alone or combined with cisplatin significantly decreased expression of cell repaired protein in carrying a portion of the code to other parts of the cell for processing.

Furthermore, the combination of Emodine and cisplatin decreased the proliferation and enhanced cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Although the study did not mention the effect of Emodin used combined with cisplatin have elicited the side effect caused by cisplatin, Emodin may lead to novel therapy in the future for NSCLC through the down-regulating expression of proteins associated to tumor spreading.

Further analysis of the Emodin effect on the non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) scientists at the Hsinchu Hospital investigates the role of ERCC1 and Rad51 in emodin-mediated cytotoxicity in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells.

Where ERCC1 is a protein associated with cells repair and DNA recombination and RAD51 is a protein associated with the assists in repair of DNA double-strand breaks.

Injection of Emodin showed a reduction of the expression of ERCC1 and Rad51 protein levels as well as mRNA levels in four different NSCLC cell lines correlated with the inactivation of the MKK1/2-ERK1/2 pathway involving cells proliferation.

The result suggested that application of Emodin exerts the similar effect as those of U0126, an MKK1/2 inhibitor used in conventional medicine for the inhibition of cellular ERCC1 and Rad51 protein and mRNA levels.

Combination of Emodin and U0126 could enhance emodin cytotoxic activity against the tested cell lines.

Dr. the lead scientist suggested these results showed that Emodin isolated from herbal Cascara Sagrada inhibited the nonsmall lung cancer through cytotoxic effect by blocking the protein associated with cell proliferation to induce apoptosis.

Taken altogether, herbal Cascara Sagrada processed the bioactive compound Emodin may be considered a functional herb for the prevention and an adjunct therapy combined with the primary medicine for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

References
(1). Emodin enhances cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity via down-regulation of ERCC1 and inactivation of ERK1/2 by Ko JC, Su YJ, Lin ST, Jhan JY, Ciou SC, Cheng CM, Chiu YF, Kuo YH, Tsai MS, Lin YW. (PubMed)
(2). Suppression of ERCC1 and Rad51 expression through ERK1/2 inactivation is essential in emodin-mediated cytotoxicity in human non-small cell lung cancer cells by Ko JC, Su YJ, Lin ST, Jhan JY, Ciou SC, Cheng CM, Lin YW. (PubMed)
(3) The Prognostic Impact of Cigarette Smoking on Patients with Non-small Cell Lung Cancer. (Research Gate)