Chinese native medicinal plant Euphorbiaceae show antitumor and anti-oxidant features in lewis lung cancer-bearing mice

Background: As a promising means, natural products from Chinese herb provide valuable sources for cancer therapy. Euphorbiaceae has been used as a remedy for the treatment of many diseases, including cancer. However, studies about its effects on lung cancer are limited, and the mechanisms are not well established. Objective: The present study aims to investigate the anticancer effects of Euphorbiaceae extract (EE) in vitro and in vivo, as well as the potential mechanisms. Materials and Methods: In the present study, 3-(4,5-dimethythiazol-. 2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was performed to investigate the effects of EE on Lewis lung adenocarcinoma cell (LLC) viability. Flow cytometric analysis was used to observe the changes of apoptosis and cell cycle of large cell carcinoma (LCC). The gene expressions were detected by real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction and Western blot. The tumorigenicity assay was performed to evaluate the inhibitory effects of EE in vivo. The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) were also determined. Results: MTT assay demonstrated that EE significantly inhibited the growth of LLC in a dose-dependent manner in vitro. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that EE markedly induced apoptosis and G0/G1 arrest of the LCC cells. Furthermore, we found that EE led to the expression changes of apoptosis-related genes, with the decrease of Bcl-2 and the increase of Bax and caspase-9. The results from tumor-bearing animals further confirmed that the administration of EE significantly suppressed the tumor growth in vivo. Meanwhile, the activities of serum SOD, CAT, and GSH-Px increased significantly after the treatment of EE. Conclusion: These results suggested that the anticancer effects of EE may be involved in apoptosis induction, proliferation suppression, and oxidant scavenging.