Abstract 3127: The effect of Guizhi Fuling Wan (GFW) on bladder tumor growth in a mouse model

Bladder cancer is the second most common malignancy of the genitourinary tumors in the world and tenth most common cancer in Taiwan. The most common type of bladder cancer is urothelial carcinoma (UC, formerly known as transitional cell carcinoma, TCC). The incidence rate is particularly high in southwestern coast of Taiwan. Treatment for superficial non-invasive bladder carcinoma is currently using intravesical chemotherapy with mitomycin C and BCG after transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TUR-BT). However, this therapy usually causes adverse effects including urinary frequency, urinary urgency, hematuria and tuberculosis infection. Therefore, we intend to find a complementary and alternative medicine for bladder cancer treatment which can bring a good result with less side effects. In our previous study, we found that a traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Guizhi Fuling Wan (GFW) had an effect on growth inhibition of human bladder cancer cell lines as same as mitomycin-C, doxorubicin and cisplatin, but had mild toxicicity on normal human bladder epithelial cells. In this study we investigated whether GFW could be used as an intravesical chemotherapy agent in our orthotopic bladder cancer mouse model and compared its adverse effect with mitomycin-C and BCG. A mouse bladder cancer cell line, MB49, was selected and evaluated its response to GFW treatment. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay was employed to analyze cell viability and flow cytometry was used to determine cell cycle and apoptosis. MB49 cells were implanted into female C57BL/6 mice to generate our orthotopic bladder tumor model which was confirmed under a microscope in histology by hematoxylin and eosin staining. Our data showed that GFW was a potent inhibitor of the proliferation of mouse bladder cancer cells in vitro as well as inhibited the tumor growth on MB49 bladder cancer orthotopic model. In addition, bladder hemorrhage which was observed in bladder cancer mice had completely disappeared 17 days after the intravesical GFW-treatment. These results support GFW as a strong candidate for intravesicle chemotherapy against bladder cancer. Citation Format: Chi-Chen Lu, Ling-Huei Tseng, Syue-Yi Chen, Jiann-Der Wu, Shu-Fen Wu, Michael W.Y. Chan, Yu-Wei Leu, Cheng-Da Hsu. The effect of Guizhi Fuling Wan (GFW) on bladder tumor growth in a mouse model. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 3127. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-3127