Asian Journal
Of Traditional Medicines

Abstract: In this study, the antitumor activities of Cucurbitacin Liposome for Injection (CLI) were investigated in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, the antitumor effects of CLI on the growth of cultured human cervical carcinoma HeLa cells, human hepatoma cells BEL-7402 and HepG2, and murine sarcoma S180 cells were determined by MTT assay and trypan blue dye-exclusion assay. In vivo, antitumor activity of CLI was investigated using H22 hepatocellular carcinoma cells, murine sarcoma cell S180 and Lewis lung carcinoma cells. Flow cytometry was used to investigate the distribution of cells in each phase of cell cycle in S180 cells. CLI, at a low concentrations (1-100 nM), had a significant inhibitory effect on proliferation of HeLa, BEL-7402, HepG2 and S180 cells in a dose-dependent manner. CLI at 0.0275, 0.055, 0.11 mg/kg inhibited tumor growth in mice of S180, H22 and Lewis lung carcinoma cells, respectively. Cell cycle analysis demonstrated G2/M phase arrest in S180 cells following 24 h exposure to CLI. In conclusion, CLI has significant antitumor effects in vivo and in vitro probably due to induction of G2/M cell cycle arrest.

Key words: Cucurbitacin Liposome for Injection (CLI), antitumor, MTT assay, G2/M arrest