Traditional Chinese Medicine Discussion

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — Recent clinical trials in Beijing show traditional Chinese medicine is effective in preventing and curing the A/H1N1 virus, commonly known as “swine flu,” according to a report Thursday in Chinese state media.

The report cited the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau as saying traditional cures were validated by five months of research, prompting the city to reserve 2 million doses of the unspecified treatment.

“The Beijing municipal government has invested 10 million yuan ($1.4 million) to test the effectiveness and safety of [traditional Chinese medicine] to treat A/H1N1 flu since May,” the report quoted the city’s chief of traditional medicine Zhao Jing as saying.

Zhao said that as of Sept. 1, a total 326 of 845 confirmed cases of A/H1N1 in Beijing had been cured with traditional treatments, adding that such cures proved “very effective” in combination with Western medicine.

The report also quoted Wang Yuguang, a senior expert with Beijing Ditan Hospital, as saying: “Clinical tests have showed that [traditional medicine] doses help reduce symptoms of fever, sore throat and cough. … No side effects and adverse reactions have been reported.”

Researchers from the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM), Chinese Academy of Sciences reported in the recent issue of “Cancer Research” the discovery of a novel mechanism of a traditional Chinese medicine in treating cancer.

The traditional Chinese herb medicine Euphorbia fischeriana Steud has been widely used in China for treating various cancers. Several compounds in the medicinal herb have been reported to have anti-tumor effects. However, the mechanisms of these compounds in inhibiting tumor growth have not been fully understood.

Dr. Ying Wang from Dr Yu’s research group, identified 17-hydroxy-jolkinolide B (HJB) from the herb as a novel inhibitor of the JAK family kinases. The mechanism of this compound is rather unique. It covalently cross-links the JAKs into dimers and inactivates their kinase activities. This effect on the JAKs is very specific. It does not affect many other kinases. As a consequence, it induces apoptosis of tumor cells, particularly those with constitutively activated JAK/STAT3. The JAK family kinases are important targets for anti-cancer and anti-inflammation drugs.

This discovery provides a new direction for JAK inhibitor drug research and development. It also helps to understand the mechanisms of the traditional Chinese medicines in treating cancer.

Source: Chinese Academy of Sciences