The multi-disciplinary research project focuses on establishing scientific evidence for the efficacy of herbs commonly prescribed by Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners for the treatment of cancers.  Areas of study include:

• Chemical characterization of phytochemicals extracted from herbs using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).
• Study of the effect of herbal extracts on mammalian cells using cell-based assays, flow cytometry and Liquid Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).
• Analysis of biomolecules resulted from the metabolism of herbal extracts in animals.
• In vivo study of herbal extracts using animal models.

Quantitative assessment of the cell viability and apoptosis (programmed cell death) for both cancer and nonmalignant cells in the presence and absence of herbal extracts were determined using the MTT method and flow cytometry respectively.  Using LC-MS/MS to study the protein profile of mammalian cells, it was found that certain proteins that play a key role in apoptosis were preferentially expressed upon incubation with selected herbal extracts.  Interestingly, the incorporation of an herbal extract with antioxidant properties resulted in more pronounced cell death in cancer cells compared with non-malignant cells, indicating the differential sensitivity of cancer and normal cells to the synergistic effect of the two herbs.  

The results obtained from the studies have been presented at the International Congress on Complementary and Alternative Medicines and published in the Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry.