Book Review pubs.acs.org/jnp
Cite This: J. Nat. Prod. 2018, 81, 1125−1126
Review of Cancer Inhibitors from Chinese Natural Medicines • Index of English name of Chinese herbs • Index of acronyms For scientists not familiar with herbal medicine terminology, the chapter headings might seem unusual. For instance, why would herbs with internal cold-dispelling properties have “anticancer” activities? The treatment of diseases with colddispelling or heat-dispelling herbs is an ancient concept, integral to traditional medicine, so there might be an underlying logic to these activities. Unfortunately, Xu does not provide a Chinese medicinal perspective for these traditional treatment categories or suggest how they might logically translate to anticancer activity. Instead, while he provides a traditional medicinal framework for each herb, his focus is on the chemical and molecular biology associated with its cytotoxicity and antitumor and anticancer activities, even if these activities have little correlation to its traditional uses. For the Western scientist this is a useful approach. Chapter 3, which focuses on antirheumatic herbs, illustrates the framework Xu uses to present a wide array of Chinese medicinal plants, their secondary metabolites, and their specific bioactivities in a most effective manner. Antirheumatic herbs are traditionally used in the treatment of disorders associated with inflammation, including rheumatism, rheumatoid arthritis, fever, and pain. It is further subdivided into antirheumatic herbs that are cold-dispersing, pain-relieving, swelling-reducing, and body-strengthening. Several different classes of cytotoxic compounds have been isolated and studied from these plants including triterpenoids (oleanolic acid from Chinese clematis), steroid saponins (dioscin and indioside-E from Chinese poisonberry), tannin-type polyphenols (geraniin and ellagic acid from Chinese cranesbill), and aporphine-bisbenzylisoquinoline-type alkaloids (tetrandrine from Stephania root). The mechanisms of action of the compounds described in this chapter are as diverse as their chemical structures, and Xu provides excellent documentation of these findings. For example, studies have found oleanolic acid to be both antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic, inhibiting both MMP-3 and MMP-9 expression, while activating caspase-3. Dioscin prevented DNA synthesis of C6 glioma cells, while indioside-E inhibited the proliferation of human hepatoma cells while augmenting apoptosis via a mitochondria-dependent pathway. Both geraniin and ellagic acid demonstrated protective activity against known mutagens as well as selective cytotoxicity toward specific cancer cell lines. The biological activities of tetrandrine were the most complex. In various studies it was found to suppress DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis in several cancer cell lines. It also acted synergistically with other chemotherapies (in vitro) including Adriamycin and vincristine against chemoresistant tumor cell lines and sensitized cancer cells to radiation therapy. The graphics in this text are clear, and the references are comprehensive. It can be easily and readily searched using a number of different search terms. Unfortunately, the book is
Cancer Inhibitors from Chinese Natural Medicines. By JunPing Xu. CRC Press, 2016. Hardcover, 731 pp. $379.95. ISBN 9781498787642. Cancer Inhibitors f rom Chinese Natural Medicines is a wellwritten, well-crafted, and thorough compendium of the experimental and clinical studies of 238 Chinese herbal medicines as cancer inhibitors written by Jun-Ping Xu, a research professor at the School of Molecular Science at Arizona State University. Professor Xu has dual expertise in Chinese natural medicines as well as medicinal chemistry and pharmaceutical science. Cancer Inhibitors f rom Chinese Natural Medicines focuses on the latest scientific investigations of Chinese herbs as well as the specific secondary metabolites associated with their biological activities. It describes the types of inhibitors present in the herbs, their levels of potency, mechanisms of action, and advances in modification and formulation. Formulations from nanoparticulates and immunotoxins in cancer inhibitors are also included in this comprehensive resource. Traditional Chinese Medicine is based on hundreds or thousands of years of use. There is often convincing evidence that these medicines have a therapeutic benefit, but the mechanisms of action are often unknown and unexplored. Xu has created a rich systematic outline of these important Chinese herbal medicines as well as the small molecules isolated from these herbs that have been studied in both in vitro and in vivo reporter systems. The book is extensively cross-referenced to facilitate a variety of search approaches for each herb, including the Chinese names, the scientific and various common names, and the general classification of traditional activities associated with the each herb. It is organized in a manner that combines both a Western scientific approach and a more traditional approach within the following chapters: • Anticancer activities of exogenous pathogenic factoreliminating herbs • Anticancer activities of antipyretic herbs • Anticancer activities of antirheumatics herbs • Anticancer activities of internal cold-dispelling herbs. • Anticancer activities of vital energy-regulating herbs • Anticancer activities of blood-activating and stasisresolving herbs • Anticancer activities of hemostatic herbs • Anticancer activities of expectorant, antitussive, and antiasthmatic herbs • Anticancer activities of tonic herbs • Anticancer potentials of purgative and diuretic herbs • Anticancer potentials of hard-lump-resolving and swelling-reducing herbs • Anticancer agents from antispasmodic Chinese herbs • Anticancer potentials of anthelmintic herbs • Anticancer activities of other plant herbs • Index of Latin name of Chinese herbs • Index of Chinese names of Chinese herbs © 2018 American Chemical Society and American Society of Pharmacognosy
Published: April 12, 2018 1125
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.8b00014 J. Nat. Prod. 2018, 81, 1125−1126
Journal of Natural Products
Book Review
not organized in such a way that mechanisms of actions (MOA) can be readily searched. This approach would be useful to many natural products chemists who would like to crossreference plants or plant metabolites with a specific MOA. One minor criticism of the book is the use of the term “anticancer” to head each chapter grouping of various types of herbs. According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NIH) guidelines for cancer drug discovery studies, the term “anticancer” should be reserved for compounds that show specific activity in human-based clinical studies. Although certain chapters describe the results of clinical trials for specific compounds, the use of the term is too general. Compounds that suppress the growth of, or kill, isolated tumor cell lines grown in culture should be referred to as either cytostatic or cytotoxic. Only those compounds that inhibit the growth of tumors in animal-based models should be called antitumor. Xu designates both in vitro activity against specific tumor cell lines and in vivo activity in animal models as antitumor activity. Besides these semantics issues, Cancer Inhibitors f rom Chinese Natural Medicines is a remarkable book and an important resource for scientists interested in the rich pharmacopeia of Chinese medicinal plants.
Andrea Stierle
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University of Montana Missoula, Montana, United States
AUTHOR INFORMATION
ORCID
Andrea Stierle: 0000-0003-3140-5791 Notes
The author declares no competing financial interest.
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.8b00014 J. Nat. Prod. 2018, 81, 1125−1126
