Dissection of mechanisms of Chinese medicinal formula Realgar-Indigo naturalis as an effective treatment for promyelocytic leukemia.

ABSTRACT: To enhance therapeutic efficacy and reduce adverse effects, practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescribe a combination of plant species/minerals, called formulae, based on clinical experience. Nearly 100,000 formulae have been recorded, but the working mechanisms of most remain unknown. In trying to address the possible beneficial effects of formulae with current biomedical approaches, we use Realgar-Indigo naturalis formula (RIF), which has been proven to be very effective in treating human acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) as a model. The main components of RIF are realgar, Indigo naturalis, and Salvia miltiorrhiza, with tetraarsenic tetrasulfide (A), indirubin (I), and tanshinone IIA (T) as major active ingredients, respectively. Here, we report that the ATI combinatio

SUBMITTER: Wang L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2290784 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature