Sumei Wang
Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, China
Title: Study on Fuzheng Kang-Ai decoction in treating lung cancer
Biography
Biography: Sumei Wang
Abstract
Our previous clinical study has shown that Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) Fuzheng Kang-Ai (FZKA for short) decoction is effective in treating advanced lung cancer patients through prolonging the drug resistance to gefitinib. Our basic study found that FZKA decoction could enhance the inhibition effect of gefitinib in lung cancer by inactivating PI3K/Akt pathway. Moreover, our recent work showed that FZKA induced lung cancer cell apoptosis via STAT3/Bcl-2/Caspase-3 Pathway. Thus in this study, we aim to elucidate how FZKA enhances the effect of gefitinib in lung cancer from the perspective of cell apoptosis. Firstly, our results showed that FZKA enhanced the inhibition effect of gefitinib in lung cancer both in vitro and in vivo. Secondly, cell apoptosis was enhanced when treated lung cancer cells with both FZKA and gefitinib, especially in a mitochondrial way. And Bcl-2 family was involved in this process. Interestingly, STAT3 plays a critical role on mediating the above process. Last but not the least, the enhanced effect of cell apoptosis induction of gefitinib by FZKA was validated in animal model. All in all, our findings conclude that Fuzheng Kang-Ai decoction enhances the effect of gefitinib-induced cell apoptosis in lung cancer through mitochondrial pathway. Our study provides a novel molecular mechanism by which FZKA prolongs the drug resistance to gefitinib in treating lung cancer patients.