替代醫學近十年在全世界高度提倡，中華傳統醫學的植物藥逐漸廣泛運用於治療。虎杖為寥科、蔓寥屬植物，是長久以來廣用的中草藥植物。在傳統中醫醫療方面，虎杖可治療關節疼痛、慢性支氣管炎、黃疸、婦女經期不順及高血壓等疾病。虎杖富含黃酮類及二苯乙烯、蒽醌等多酚類化合物，亦含有白藜蘆醇、大黃素等天然物，目前已知虎杖萃取物在生體外或生體內實驗具有抗發炎、保護心血管功能及抵抗細胞增生、抗氧化等功效。
鼻咽癌為非淋巴瘤的、鱗狀上皮細胞病變之惡性腫瘤，其發生位置為鼻咽腔，咽喉上端及鼻腔正後方之區域，好發於亞洲東南部、中國東南方、台灣及北非地區。已知EB病毒為形成鼻咽癌的重要因素之一，此研究以不含EB病毒之鼻咽癌細胞株TW01及含EB病毒之鼻咽癌細胞株NA做為研究對象。本論文旨在「探討虎杖是否抑制鼻咽癌細胞株TW01及NA之細胞增生及其潛在抗腫瘤之特性」。結果發現：虎杖萃取物具有濃度依賴性地抑制鼻咽癌細胞株TW01及NA的細胞增生率，並由虎杖對於TW01及NA細胞之IC50濃度值可知：虎杖萃取物之細胞毒性相對較低。本文以此探究在低細胞毒性的實驗條件，虎杖的抗腫瘤的潛力，包括測試細胞移動力、細胞侵襲力、基質金屬蛋白酶 (MMPs)的活性。實驗結果顯示虎杖萃取物有效地抑制鼻咽癌細胞株之移動力、侵襲力，並隨著濃度增加而降低基質金屬蛋白酶 (MMPs)的活性，再藉由西方點墨法得知，經虎杖萃取物處理後，Wnt細胞訊息傳遞路徑中的調節分子β-catenin、細胞黏附蛋白E-cadherin及調控MMPs之轉錄因子NF-κB與Sp1兩者蛋白質在核內的量，以上四者皆受到虎杖萃取物影響。綜合以上結果，虎杖萃取物會影響鼻咽癌細胞株TW01與NA之細胞增生率，並分別調控β-catenin、E-cadherin、NF-κB與Sp1在細胞核及細胞質中的表現量，以影響癌細胞之移動力、侵襲力。本論文之主要貢獻為發現虎杖萃取物具有治療癌症轉移的潛力，未來可發展為新穎的中草藥材料。

Alternative medicine has been highly advocated worldwide in recent decades. Botanical drugs, one major area of alternative medicine have been the most popularly used. Rhizoma polygoni cuspidati (rhizome of Polygonum cuspidatum, Hu-Zhang in Chinese) belongs to the family of Polygonaceae. It has been used for a long time in Asia. Traditional uses of rhizoma polygonum cuspidatum are treatments for arthralgia, chronic bronchitis, jaundice, amenorrhea, and high blood pressure. Several chemical compounds including stilbenes, anthraquinones and flavones were isolated from Polygonum cuspidatum extract (PCE), and natural ingredients, resveratrol and emodin, were selected to assess the effect of herbal drug. PCE has anti-inflammatory, cardio-protective, anti-proliferative, and antioxidant activities both in vitro and in vivo.
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a non-lymphomatous, non-keratinising squamous carcinomas or keratinising squamous-cell carcinomas, prevalent in southeastern Asia, southern part of China and Taiwan. This disease occurs in the epithelia lining of the retronasal cavity. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is regarded as one of the etiological factors in tumorigenesis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. An EBV-negative nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line, TW01, and EBV-positive nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line, NA, were uesd as the model in this study. The main goal of this study is to investigate whether PCE could inhibit human NA and TW01 nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell proliferation and anti-tumor activities. The results of cytotoxicity assay revealed that PCE could inhibit cell gorwth in a dose-dependent manner. IC50 values of two NPC cell lines revealed that the toxicity of PCE to nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell lines was low. To assess whether PCE had anti-tumor activity in low cytotoxicity, migration, invasion and gelatin zymograph assays were carried out. Treatment with PCE could suppress migratory and invasive abilities signigicantly in NPC cells, and gelatin zymograph assay indicated that PCE could reduce matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) activities. The expression of one mediator in Wnt signaling pathway, β-catenin, and cell adhsion component, E-cadherin, and MMP regulators, NF-κB and Sp1 were affected upon treatment of PCE. Taken together, these results indicate that PCE can effectively inhibit cell growth, migration and invasion of NPC cells through regulation of the expression of β-catenin, E-cadherin, NF-κB and Sp1 at nuclear and cytoplasmic levels. In conclusion, Polygonum cuspidatum extract is potentially a botanical supplement for cancer metastatic therapy.

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