Orthosiphon stamineus: an Asian tea with substantial anticancer properties

Background: Liver cancer is one of the deadly cancers with high prevalence in the East Asia. Likewise most of diseases, herbs and herbal medicine could be an easy and cost effective tool in prevention and possible cancer treatment. The present study investigated the ability of Orthosiphon stamineus Benth decoction to protect liver against hepatocellular carcinoma in carcinogenesis-induced animal model. Methods: Forty male Sprague Dawley rats (age: 8±1 weeks, weight: 248.1±7.21g) were obtained and 10 rats were kept as normal group. Hepatocellular carcinoma was induced for the rest 30 of rats by means of intraperitoneal injection of 200mg/kg diethyl nitrosamine (DEN) dissolved in corn oil. Induced cancer rats were under hepatocarcinogenesis promoter diet made from a mixture of standard rat diet (AIN-76) with 2-acetylaminofluorene (0.02% AAF) for two weeks. Two weeks after this diet, left over rats were divided to two groups as control and treatment. Treatment group, were forced feed daily with 0.7 ml O. stamineus decoction. Results: After 28 weeks treatment with O. stamineus decoction, serum biochemical markers including alpha fetoprotein (AFP), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), corticosteroid binding globulin (CBG), gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT), homocysteine (HCY), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and alpha 2 macroglobulin (α2MG) have been regulated favorably. Total antioxidant status (TAS) also has been increased drastically. Liver lesion score in treated groups were reduced and glucocorticoid activity has been amplified significantly. Conclusion: Our results indicate that O. stamineus decoction might prevent or subdue liver cancer development.