The substance wogonin triggers the death program apoptosis in tumor cells, while it has virtually no effect on healthy cells.
Scientists of the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have discovered the molecular mechanism underlying this selectivity.
Defects in genes that control growth can turn a cell into a threat for the whole organism. Defective cells that might get out of control are driven into suicide by a protective mechanism called apoptosis. However, this life saving mechanism is no longer working in most tumor cells, since numerous molecules regulating apoptosis are defective.
This is why researchers have been trying for some time to restore the capability of controlled suicide in tumor cells. However, this is a risky venture, because it involves the danger of damaging healthy tissue, too, by cell death. Therefore, scientists have urgently been searching for substances that induce cell death selectively in tumor cells.
Dr. Min Li-Weber of the Division of Immunogenetics headed by Prof. Dr. Peter Krammer has been concentrating on pure substances from herbs that are used in traditional Chinese medicine. Investigating their ability to trigger apoptosis, the scientist has recently come across an interesting candidate: the substance wogonin, a plant flavone from Baikal skullcap. Wogonin causes apoptosis in leukemia cells in the culture dish, while it has virtually no damaging effect on healthy blood cells. Wogonin also led to reduced cancer growth in mice that had been transplanted human leukemia cells.