Progress of experimental researches on Chinese herbal compounds for inducing tumor cell apoptosis.

Cell apoptosis is an initiative process of cell death regulated by genes. Inducing cell apoptosis is a new way of cancer treatment. In this paper, the progress in experimental studies on the effect of Chinese herbal compounds (CHC) on the induction of tumor cell apoptosis will be reviewed in terms of major mechanisms (gene expression regulation, cell morphology change, telomerase activity change, and immunity enhancement, etc.). The study on disassembled CHC, as well as the synergistic effect when in combined use with chemotherapy for inducing apoptosis, is also reviewed here.