Effect of Weikangning on gastric cancer cell growth and expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and its receptors KDR and Flt-1

AIM: To observe the effect of Chinese traditional herbal decoction Weikang-ning (WKN) on cell growth and expression of VEGF and its receptors KDR and Flt-1 in gastric cancer cell line MGC-803. METHODS: A total of 120 male Wistar rats were divided into control group, high dose, medium dose and low dose groups fed with natural saline, 20, 10, and 5 g/kg of WKN, respectively. The experimental animals were finally killed for the preparation of drug-containing serum. The gastric cancer cell MGC-803 was cultured with the drug-containing serum drawn from the rats in different groups. We observed the growth condition of the cancer cells with light microscope and flow cytometer. The expression of mRNA of VEGF and its receptors KDR and Flt-1 was detected with RT-PCR. RESULTS: The proportion of cells in G0-G1 phase was (65.40±0.41)%, (56.92±0.62)%, (55.89±0.69)% in high, medium and low dose groups respectively vs (41.35±0.55)% in control group (P<0.01), while the cells in G2-S and S phases were (11.62±0.62)% and (22.99±0.69)%, (17.08±0.80)% and (26.00±0.71)%, (19.37±0.57)% and (24.74±0.64)% in high, medium and low dose groups, respectively, vs (23.65±0.56)% and (35.00±0.60)% in control group (P<0.01). The expression of mRNA of VEGF and its receptors was significantly decreased, the area of electrophoresis bands (AREA), the absorptivity of mean optical density (A) and the product of AREA and A were significantly lower in WKN-administered groups than that in control group (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: The decoction of WKN suppresses the growth of gastric cancer cell MGC-803 and decreases the expression of mRNA of both VEGF and its receptors KDR and Flt-1.