Res Commun Mol Pathol Pharmacol. 1999 ; 106(3): 171-80.

Regulation of gene expression by herbal medicines--a new paradigm of gene therapy for multifocal abnormalities of genes.

Sugaya E, Yuyama N, Kajiwara K, Tsuda T, Ohguchi H, Shimizu-Nishikawa K, Kimura M, Sugaya A.

Division of Oriental Medicine, Tokyo Hospital, School of Medicine, Tokai University, Japan.

Japanese herbal medicine has long been considered as only supplementary therapy to Western medicine. However, we discovered that an herbal mixture, Saiko-keishi-to-ka shakuyaku (SK, TJ-960), showed regulatory function of gene expression such as increased expression of seizure-related gene PTZ-17, proto-oncogene c-fos and heat shock protein HSP 72. These results provide a scientific basis for an important ancient concept and usage of herbal mixtures as a "therapy against diseases which will be suffered in the future". Our results also give an adequate provide break-throughs for therapy and even prevention of intractable epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, developmental disorders during pregnancy and the postnatal period, and also probably for prevention of metastasis or relapse of various cancers.