TY - JOUR A2 - Borrelli, Francesca AU - Sun, Mingyu AU - Cao, Hongyan AU - Sun, Lin AU - Dong, Shu AU - Bian, Yanqin AU - Han, Jun AU - Zhang, Lijun AU - Ren, Shuang AU - Hu, Yiyang AU - Liu, Chenghai AU - Xu, Lieming AU - Liu, Ping PY - 2012 DA - 2012/08/28 TI - Antitumor Activities of Kushen: Literature Review SP - 373219 VL - 2012 AB - To discover and develop novel natural compounds with therapeutic selectivity or that can preferentially kill cancer cells without significant toxicity to normal cells is an important area in cancer chemotherapy. Kushen, the dried roots of Sophora flavescens Aiton, has a long history of use in traditional Chinese medicine to treat inflammatory diseases and cancer. Kushen alkaloids (KS-As) and kushen flavonoids (KS-Fs) are well-characterized components in kushen. KS-As containing oxymatrine, matrine, and total alkaloids have been developed in China as anticancer drugs. More potent antitumor activities were identified in KS-Fs than in KS-As in vitro and in vivo. KS-Fs may be developed as novel antitumor agents. SN - 1741-427X UR - https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/373219 DO - 10.1155/2012/373219 JF - Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine PB - Hindawi Publishing Corporation KW - ER -