Malignant tumors are the leading cause of death in Taiwan; among these, colon cancer ranks third as a cause of cancer-related death. Sann-Joong-Kuey-Jian-Tang (SJKJT), a traditional Chinese medicinal prescription, has been used to treat lymph node diseases and infectious lesions, and exhibits cytotoxic activity in many cancer cell lines. Our previous studies demonstrated that SJKJT inhibits the proliferation of human colon cancer colo 205 cells in vitro. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-tumor activity of SJKJT alone and in combination with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in vivo. SCID mice bearing human colon cancer colo 205 cell xenografts were administered SJKJT alone (30 mg/kg daily, p.o.), SJKJT (30 mg/kg daily, p.o.) in combination with 5-FU (30 mg/kg weekly, i.p.), or vehicle alone. At the end of the 4-week dosing schedule, the tumor and animal body weights were individually measured. The SCID mice were sacrificed with CO2 inhalation, the xenograft tumors were dissected, and the protein expression of microtubule-associated protein light chain 3 (MAP-LC3-II) in colo 205 xenograft tumors was measured by Western blotting. In the control, SJKJT-, and SJKJT plus 5-FU-treated mice, the tumor weights were 6.37±2.57, 0.43±0.35 and 1.63±0.46 g, and the mice body weights were 29±0.55, 29±2.71 and 27±0.77 g, respectively. Treatment with SJKJT resulted in a reduction in tumor weight compared with the control group, indicating that SJKJT inhibits tumor growth in a colo 205 xenograft model. SJKJT also increased LC3-II protein expression as compared to the controls. The present study shows that SJKJT alone or in combination with 5-FU has a positive effect on the treatment of SCID mice bearing human colon cancer colo 205 cell xenografts. This suggests that SJKJT has therapeutic potential in the treatment of human colon cancer.

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