Extracts of P. koreana(SB-3l) has been tried as an antitumor agent by traditional medicine practitioner in Korea for the past 30 years. It is a specially prepared extract af P. koreana whose fractions lose efficacy compared to the original mixture. Lee" observed substantial antitumor effects and minimal toxicity of SB-31 in sarcoma 180 animal tumor model(unpublished data). For the past 5 ears, there has been dramatic though anecdotal therapeutic outcomes with SB-3l in some advanced stage cancer patients. We evaluated the in vitro antitumor effects of SB-31 against 3 kinds of gastric cancer cells, A549, HeLa and Caski, MCF7, HepG2 and Hep3B and normal mononuclear cells. Cytotoxicity ws evaluated with the Tetrazolium-based colori- metric assay(MTT) after incubation of cancer cells with SB-31. Results; in 3 gastric cancer cells, ID of SB-31 were 0.16, 0.34 and 0.53 mg/mL Most effective tumor cell kill was achieved after 96 hrs of incubation with SB-31. The ID values of SB-31 on various cancer cell lines ranged from 0.14 mg/ml to 0.27 mg/mL Keeping SB-31 ampul in room temperature up to 4 days did not affect the efficacy but the activity decreased after more than 4 days in the ambient temperature. It is concluded that SB-31 is an active antitumor agent without significanct toxicity. The mechanism of action of SB-31 and its toxicity and efficacy should be further evaluated.
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