Do cytotoxic genes from traditional Chinese medicine inhibit tumor growth both in vitro and in vivo?
Our studies suggest that the use of TCM cytotoxic genes is a useful therapeutic strategy for treating human cancers in general, and liver tumors in particular.
In the HTM cells, cytoskeletal/outflow facility drugs do not seem to affect the levels of RhoA mRNA, possibly suggesting the importance of mRNA availability to allow rapid turnover of its function. Gene transfer of inactive RhoA to the intact human TM results in an increase in outflow facility. This increase appears to be correlated with a loosening of the cell-substrate and cell-cell attachments in the cells of the outflow pathway. Adenoviral vectors carrying the dominant negative form of RhoA could potentially be utilized as a gene therapy to modulate outflow facility.