Chinese herb may block brain tumor

COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 12 (UPI) -- The compound, indirubin, the active ingredient in a traditional Chinese herbal remedy, may help treat brain tumors, U.S. researchers say.

Dr. E. Antonio Chiocca, a professor at Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center -- Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, says indirubin is derived from the indigo plant. It is the active ingredient in the Chinese herbal remedy Dang Gui Long Hui Wan.

"We have pretty good methods to stop glioblastoma from growing in the human brain, but these therapies fail because tumor cells migrate from the original site and grow elsewhere in the brain," Chiocca, a co-principal investigator in the study, says in a statement.

"Our findings suggest that indirubins offer a novel therapeutic strategy for these tumors."

The study, published in the journal Cancer Research, shows for the first time that drugs of the indirubin family may improve survival in glioblastoma, and that these agents inhibit two of the most important hallmarks of this malignancy -- tumor-cell invasion and angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing vessels.