Antitumor activity of crude polysaccharides isolated from Solanum nigrum Linne on U14 cervical carcinoma bearing mice

Solanum nigrum Linne (SNL) has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries because of its diuretic and antipyretic effects. The present study examined the effect of the crude polysaccharides isolated from Solanum nigrum Linne (SNL-P) on tumor growth. SNL-P had a significant growth inhibition effect on cervical cancer (U14) of tumor-bearing mice. Further analysis of the tumor inhibition mechanism indicated that the number of apoptotic tumor cells increased significantly, the expression of Bax increased and the expression of Bcl-2 and mutant p53 decreased dramatically in cervical cancer sections after oral administration of SNL-P for 12 days. Moreover, SNL-P treatment decreased the level of blood serum TNF-alpha These results indicated that the tumor growth inhibition of SNL-P administration might correlate with the reduction of TNF-a level of blood serum, which resulted in a massive necrosis in tumor tissues and the up-regulation of Bax and down-regulation of Bcl-2 and mutant p53 gene expression, which triggered apoptosis in tumor cells. These findings demonstrated that the SNL-P is a potential antitumor agent. Copyright (C) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.