Abstract #243 / Poster #6
AN ALTERNATIVE THERAPEUTIC APPROACH TO THE TREATMENT OF OVARIAN CANCER
Ming-Ching Kao1,4,*, Ya-Ling Chan1, Huei-Hua Liao1, Yi-Jen Lee2, Chien-Chih Ou3, Jah-Yao Liu4
1
Department of Biological Science and Technology, College of Life Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; 2Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences and
Department of Biochemistry, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan; National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan; 3Sinphar Group R&D Center,
Sinphar Group, Yilan, Taiwan; 4Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death among gynecologic malignancies. About 75% of ovarian cancers are diagnosed at late stages. Its cure rate is only 5-10 %. The chemotherapeutic drugs present effective anti-tumor effects in the early stages of chemotherapy, although serious chemoresistance followed by tumor progression and metastasis are responsible for its recurrence and treatment failure. Therefore, development of new strategies and/or new drugs against ovarian cancer is urgently needed. Among the new strategies, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) may be one of the best choices for the treatment of ovarian cancer in terms of safety. We have discovered that the TCM formula of Four-Agents-Decoction (FAD; also known as Si-Wu-Tang, SWT) has growth suppression effect on human ovarian cancer cells. Although FAD has been used for centuries as a remedy for nourishing blood, regulating menstruation and relieving pains in Asian countries, it may also have anti-tumor effect on ovarian cancer based on our experimental results. The growth suppression effect on human ovarian cancer cells has also been confirmed via an animal model. Our results may provide an alternative therapeutic approach to the treatment of ovarian cancer.
