{"id":820542,"date":"2026-11-01T07:48:49","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T07:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/820542\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T07:48:49","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T07:48:49","slug":"traditional-chinese-medicine-formula-kills-drug-resistant-cancer-cells-in-the-lab-sciencealert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/820542\/","title":{"rendered":"Traditional Chinese Medicine Formula Kills Drug-Resistant Cancer Cells in The Lab : ScienceAlert"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most common form<\/a> of esophageal cancer worldwide is notoriously difficult to treat, in part due to the scourge of drug resistance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma<\/a> (ESCC) \u2013 which is particularly common in Asia and developing nations<\/a> \u2013 is often treated with the chemotherapy drug cisplatin<\/a>, but tumors can develop resistance to the medication, making the deadly disease difficult to contain.<\/p>\n

“Once resistance develops, patients are more likely to experience reduced responses to subsequent treatment and unfavorable survival outcomes,” researchers from Shaoxing University in China write in a new study published in Frontiers in Immunology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Deciphering the mechanistic drivers of cisplatin resistance and pioneering novel interventions to counteract it are critical and unmet imperatives for altering the therapeutic landscape for ESCC patients.”<\/p>\n

In their study, the research team examined one such candidate to help us fight back against ESCC \u2013 but as far as novel interventions go, it’s practically ancient.<\/p>\n

Huayu Wan is a formulation of traditional Chinese medicine<\/a>, containing 15 ingredients derived from two traditional remedies, the Taohong Siwu<\/a> and Didang<\/a> decoctions.<\/p>\n

In the past, Huayu Wan was used to treat abdominal masses and tumor-like conditions, and the formulation is still used in modern clinical settings in China to help treat tumors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"ThisMicrograph of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. (Nephron\/Wikimedia Commons\/CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Despite ongoing research involving Huayu Wan, much of it in animal models<\/a>, there’s still a lot we don’t know about the molecular mechanisms underlying its antitumor effects.<\/p>\n

In the new study, the researchers grew human and mouse esophageal cancer cells that were made resistant to cisplatin and exposed them to dosages of Huayu Wan.<\/p>\n

Results showed that the medicinal formulation suppressed the activity and growth of the cancer cells, with greater antitumor effects seen with larger doses or after longer durations of exposure.<\/p>\n

According to the researchers, Huayu Wan induces ferroptosis<\/a> in cancer cells, a form of programmed cell death, in which iron contributes to a destructive buildup<\/a> of oxidative damage to cell membranes.<\/p>\n

The formulation appears to weaken cancer cells’ ability to neutralize the damage, disrupting antioxidant defense mechanisms involving a chemical called glutathione<\/a> and triggering cancer cells to free up their internal iron stores, which fuels greater oxidative damage.<\/p>\n

“By coupling these two processes, Huayu Wan innovatively forces a breakdown of the cancer cells’ redox defenses,” the researchers explain<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“It sparks uncontrolled lipid peroxidation while freeing iron from intracellular ferritin stores, which together drive robust ferroptotic cell death.”<\/p>\n

In a separate experiment in mice, animals implanted with cisplatin-resistant esophageal cancer cells were treated with Huayu Wan, and the traditional medicine appeared to suppress tumor growth and reduce tumor weight, when compared to untreated mice.<\/p>\n

The researchers also found that tumors treated with Huayu Wan contained more immune cells called CD8+ T cells<\/a>, suggesting the formulation might trigger an immune response that could help combat cancer cells, in addition to its direct effects on tumor suppression.<\/p>\n

When Huayu Wan was combined with an immunotherapy treatment called anti-PD\u20131<\/a>, the combination produced a greater suppression of tumor growth and a greater reduction in tumor weight than either of the treatments did by themselves.<\/p>\n

It’s worth noting that the results seen here have only been demonstrated in cell lines and an animal model for now, so we’ll need a lot more research before we can say that Huayu Wan would be clinically safe and similarly effective in human patients.<\/p>\n

But based on the evidence here, there are some positive signs that this traditional Chinese medicine could be a potent tool in the future, and it’s one we might very well need.<\/p>\n

“Natural products are increasingly recognized for their potential to overcome chemotherapy resistance or increase drug sensitivity by modulating cancer cell survival pathways,” the researchers write<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“These findings highlight the potential of Huayu Wan as an alternative therapeutic strategy for cisplatin-resistant ESCC and warrant further investigation of its ability to complement existing treatments.”<\/p>\n

The findings are reported in Frontiers in Immunology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article was fact-checked by Rebecca Dyer<\/a> and edited by Rebecca Dyer<\/a>. While we pride ourselves on our process, we are only human. If you spot a mistake, please let us know<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The most common form of esophageal cancer worldwide is notoriously difficult to treat, in part due to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59,102,249,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-820542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-msft-content","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}