Screening Of The Anticancer Active Constituents In Cirsium Japonicum DC And Its Anticancer Mechanism

Cirsium japonicum DC, a traditional Chinese medicine, is a perennial plant. It is 100-150cm in plant height and has upright stalk with white hair on the stalk. The leaves are intergrowth and obovoid oblong ovate with sinus - indentation in the margin and oblique needling. It flowers during May and June. It has a terminal cluster of anthodium,, solitary purple red flowers, flat oval achene. It grows on the sides of the road or in the wild in most parts of China. The whole plant or root in Cirsium japonicum DC can be used as medicine. Cirsium japonicum DC is cool in nature and sweet and bitter in taste. It has the function of cooling the blood and stoping bleeding, dispelling blood stasis and pain. It is mainly used to treat haematemesis, nose bleeding, hematuri, bloody gonorrhea, flood, Ieukorrhea, hematochezia, acute appendicitis, large carbuncle, furuncle, high blood pressure, and hepatitis. Its chemical components are complex, which mainly contains flavones, flavonoid glycoside, volatile oils, triterpene,sterol. In the well-established folk recipes, Cirsium japonicum DC is usually used in the treatment of cancers. For example, the root of Cirsium japonicum DC and rhizome of Chinese lizardtail are combined to treat liver cancer; the ground fresh leaves of Cirsium japonicum DC and the egg white are together applied to affected part to treat breast cancer. Zhao Peng et al showed that the extract from Cirsium japonicum DC can inhibit the growth of Hep cell and improve the immune function in tumor-bearing mice. But no reports have been seen on the anti-cancer components in Cirsium japonicum DC and its anti-cancer mechanism.