Nanoparticles derived from Scutellaria barbata and Hedytois diffusa herb pair and their anti-cancer activity

Abstract

Ethnopharmacological relevanceThe Scutellaria barbata D.Don and Hedyotis diffusa Willd. (SH) herb pair is extensively used in Traditional Chinese medicine for treating cancer, which has a long history in clinical empirical prescriptions, such as "kang ai ping wan (抗癌平丸)", "er ban er bai decoction (二半二白汤)". The ambiguous pharmacological ingredients and compatibility mechanism of SH herb pair promoted the exploration. Aim of the studyThe characteristics of phytochemicals self-recognition and self-assembly is used to quickly find the active nanoparticles in SH herb pair. And it provides a new strategy for the developing new drugs of TCM. MethodsThe SH-extracted nanoparticles (NPs) were gained by centrifugating from the 70% fractionated that the biological activity-guided by D101 macroporous resin column. The micromorphology of active NPs was observed with transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Dynamic light scattering (DLS), Ultraviolet−visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and element analysis (EA) were applied for characterizing NPs. The main components were identified by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and HPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS. Proliferation and migration experiments in vitro as well as tumor growth in vivo were performed to evaluate NPs on triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). ResultsThe present article quickly discovered the key active ingredients from SH herb pair70%SH-NPs, which were mainly composed of aurantiamide acetate (from HD), scutebarbatine A (from SB) and palmitin (from HD). 70%SH-NPs significantly inhibited proliferation and migration of breast cancer cells in vitro together with tumor growth in nude mice. ConclusionsThe results maybe explain the wisdom of SH herb pair compatibility, that is, the active ingredients of the two single drugs self-assemble to form NPs via supramolecular chemical bonds during the decoction process. In summary, the present article might inspire the studies of the relationship between active phytochemicals and NPs in herbs, and the corresponding pharmacological implications.