人類癌症中大多屬於上皮細胞癌，且因血管內皮細胞不正常增生而導致的血管新生是造成惡性腫瘤的重要機轉之一，臨床上丹皮具有清熱涼血、活血化瘀的作用，現代藥理研究也發現丹皮具有抗病毒、抗菌、抗發炎、抗增殖等作用。本實驗目的是以體外實驗探討丹皮抽出物對臍帶內皮細胞、上皮癌細胞包括膀胱移行上皮癌細胞、乳癌細胞、甲狀腺癌細胞等，是否具有抑制其細胞增殖的作用。將不同細胞株培養在不同濃度的丹皮抽出物中，經24小時的培養，以MTS分析法分析丹皮抽出物對內皮細胞、上皮細胞和上皮癌腫瘤細胞的生長抑制作用。結果顯示丹皮抽出物對臍帶內皮細胞、乳癌細胞和膀胱移行上皮癌細胞可以產生有效的抑制效果，而且會誘發內皮細胞的caspase-8路徑造成細胞凋亡；但對於甲狀腺癌細胞則無抑制效應。相較於MCF-7乳癌細胞與WRO濾泡性甲狀腺癌細胞，膀胱上皮癌細胞的生長能更有效地被丹皮抽出物抑制。

Human tumors are most epithelial cell cancer, and angiogenesis is one of important mechanisms caused by abnormal proliferation of endothelial cells. Cortex Moutan (root bark of Paeonia suffruticosa Andr.) is used to activate the blood flow and remove blood stasis in traditional medicine. Pharmacological experiments have shown that some extracts of cortex Moutan have antiviral, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferation properties. In this study we investigated whether Cortex Moutan extracts had anti-proliferation effects on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and epithelial cancer cell lines of bladder, breast and thyroid cancer Cell lines were cultured in various concentrations of Cortex Moutan extracts for 24 hours, and subjected to MTS analysis. The results showed that Cortex Moutan extracts had anti-proliferation effects on HUVEC, breast cancer and bladder cancer cells, but had no inhibitory effect on thyroid cancer: In addition, Cortex Moutan extracts might induce caspase-8 dependent cell death in HUVEC. Compared to breast and thyroid cancer cells, bladder cancer cells were more effectively inhibited by Cortex Moutan extracts.