Traditional Chinese medicine herbal mixture LQ arrests FUCCI-expressing HeLa cells in G0/G1 phase in 2D plastic, 2.5D Matrigel®, and 3D Gelfoam® culture visualized with FUCCI imaging

We used the fluorescence ubiquitination-based cell cycle indicator (FUCCI) to monitor cell cycle arrest after treatment of FUCCI-expressing HeLa cells (FUCCI-HeLa) with a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) herbal mixture LQ, previously shown to have anti-tumor and anti-metastatic activity in mouse models. Paclitaxel was used as the positive control. In 2D monolayer culture, the untreated control had approximately 45% of the cells in S/G(2)/M phase. In contrast, the LQ-treated cells (9 mg/ml) were mostly in the G(0)/G(1) (>90%) after 72 hours. After treatment with paclitaxel (0.01 mu m), for 72 hours, 95% of the cells were in S/G(2)/M. In 2.5D Matrigel (R) culture, the colonies in the untreated control group had 40% of the cells in S/G(2)/M. LQ arrested the cells in G(0)/G(1) after 72 hours. Paclitaxel arrested almost all the cells in S/G(2)/M after 72 hours. In 3D Gelfoam (R) culture, the untreated control culture had approximately 45% of cells in G(2)/M. In contrast, the LQ-treated cells were mostly in G(0)/G(1) phase (>80%) after 72 hours treatment. Paclitaxel resulted in 90% of the cells arrested in S/ G(2)/M after 72 hours. The present report suggests the non-toxic LQ has potential to maintain cancers in a quiescent state for long periods of time.