Effects of astragali radix on the growth of different cancer cell lines

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the inhibitory effect of a Chinese herb medicine Astragali radix (AR) on growth of different cancer cell lines. Methods: To observe the in vitro effects of AR on tumor cell proliferation by trypan blue exclusion, MTS method and tritium thymidine incorporation assay. Apoptosis was detected by DNA ladder method. Results: The inhibition rates of AR on the cell respiration of ACS, KATOIII, HT29, MDA231, MEL7 and MEL14 were 68.25 %, 62.36 %, 22.8 %, 27.69 %, 2.85 % and 5.14 % respectively at the concentration of 100 ug/ml; it inhibited ACS DNA synthesis by 87.33 % at the concentration of 50 ug/ml. The inhibitory effect on ACS was time-and dose-dependent. AR did not induce apoptosis in AGS cells. Conclusion: AR specifically inhibits gastric cancer cells growth in vitro and the mechanism is mainly cytostatic but not cytotoxic or inducing apoptosis.