Comparison of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) herbal mixture LQ and paclitaxel on the phase of cancer cell cycle blockage and cancer cell invasion.

e22014 Background: Although Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been used to treat cancer for thousands of years, the mechanisms of action are either poorly understood or unknown. In the present report, we use state-of-the-art technology to investigate the anti-cancer mechanism of the TCM herbal mixture LQ. Methods: Fluorescence ubiquitination-based cell cycle indicator (FUCCI) was used to monitor cell cycle arrest HeLa cells after LQ treatment. FUCCI-HeLa cells were cultured in two dimensional (2D) monolayer, Matrigel and 3D Gelfoam. Changes of cell cycle status were observed using the Olympus FV1000 confocal imaging system whereby cycling cells fluoresce green and quiescent cells red. Paclitaxel (Taxol) was used as the positive control. Results: Paclitaxel induced a G2/M cell cycle block. In contrast, LQ blocked FUCCI-HeLa cells in the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle in all 3 culture models. In monolayer culture, the paclitaxel positive control had approximately 45% of the cells in G2/M phase. In contrast, the LQ-treated cells were mostly in the G0/G1 phase (>90%). In Matrigel culture, HeLa cells formed spheres. The spheres in the paclitaxel control group had 40% of the cells in G2/M phase, but only 15% in LQ-treated cultures. In 3D Gelfoam culture, cells grew along the structures of the Gelform. The paclitaxel positive control culture had approximately 45% of cells in G2/M phase. In contrast, the cells in LQ-treated culture were mostly in G0/G1 phase (>80%). The cells in pacilitaxel control group invaded to 250~300 µm deep in the Gelfoam, but only 150~200 µm deep in LQ-treated culture. Conclusions: The anti-cancer mechanism of TCM herbal mixture LQ involves cancer cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 and inhibition of cancer cell invasion.