Studies On The Biological Effects Of Arsenic Trioxide (As₂O₃) On Treating Tumors And Its Cellular And Molecular Mechanisms

Arsenic Trioxide(As₂O₃), a major compound in traditional Chinese medicine , was recently identified strong anti-acute promyelocytic leukemia(APL) activity. APL patients resistant to all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and other conventional chemotherapy drugs still respond to AS₂O₃. The further study on its mechanisms showed that AS₂O₃ induces APL NB4 cell apoptosis with downregulation of Bcl-2 expression and modulation of PML/PML-RAR(?) proteins. Considering over most of the maligant tumors are not derived from blood system, in this study, we studied the biological effects of AS₂O₃ on other tumors and its cellular and molecular mechanisms in order to discuss whether AS₂O₃ has the similar effects on other tumors with on leukemia.The results were as follows:1. AS₂O₃ obviously prolonged the life of mice with ascites produced by leukemia 1210 or hepatoma and inhibited the growth of solid tumor produced by S180 in mice. The acute toxicity to Kunming mice is 10.339mg/kg. Combined with surgical therapy, AS₂O₃ inhibited the metastasis of lung...