Bing De Ling, a Chinese herbal formula, inhibits cancer cells growth via p53.

Front Biosci (Elite Ed). 2010;2:221-30

Authors: Zhang Y, Dong H, Li Z, Xiang S, Zhu Y, Zhang M, Liu J, Bai W, Nicosia SV, Chen J

Bing De Ling is a Chinese herbal formula that has been used to treat cancer patients for more than a decade. However, the molecular mechanisms behind its anti-tumor efficacy are still elusive. Here, we show that Bing De Ling inhibits cell proliferation in ovarian cancer epithelial cell lines, OV2008 and C13. It induces G1/S arrest in a p53-dependent manner in that this effect is attenuated in OV2008 cells transfected with dominant-negative p53 plasmid. Moreover, we show that Bing De Ling up-regulates p53 transcriptional activities as well as its downstream target genes, such as p21Cip1, MDM2, and MDMX. In addition, Bing De Ling inhibits MDMX-p53 interaction which may result in stabilization and activation of p53. Collectively, our results suggest that the anti-tumor activity of Bing De Ling may be in part due to activation of p53.

Dr.Steve's BOTTOM LINE: p53 is also known as tumor protein 53, which is genetically encoded by the TP53 gene. It's function is to help regulate the normal cell cycle and is a tumor suppressor gene. This means that when it is functioning normally in cells, it helps prevent cancer. For this it gained recognition as "the guardian angel gene". Anticancer function of the gene and it's protein p53 is actually rather complex, but the point is that switching it on prevents cancer and switching it off (by many external and internal mechanisms) can help promote cancer development. This laboratory study shows us that Bing De Ling has a plausible anti-cancer mechanism that might be considered for clinical trials. Why is this not a slam dunk next step? Because there are actually a lot of agents of natural and synthetic origin that act on p53. However, some work better than others and we certainly don't have a cure for most cancers. Thus, this is a plausible option for further study regarding just how well it might work in animals and humans.