Abstract
Objective
To study the in vitro and in vivo antitumor effects of the polysaccharide of Alocasia cucullata (PAC) and the underlying mechanism.
Methods
B16F10 and 4T1 cells were cultured with PAC of 40 µg/mL, and PAC was withdrawn after 40 days of administration. The cell viability was detected by cell counting kit-8. The expression of Bcl-2 and Caspase-3 proteins were detected by Western blot and the expressions of ERK1/2 mRNA were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). A mouse melanoma model was established to study the effect of PAC during long-time administration. Mice were divided into 3 treatment groups: control group treated with saline water, positive control group (LNT group) treated with lentinan at 100 mg/(kg·d), and PAC group treated with PAC at 120 mg/(kg·d). The pathological changes of tumor tissues were observed by hematoxylin-eosin staining. The apoptosis of tumor tissues was detected by TUNEL staining. Bcl-2 and Caspase-3 protein expressions were detected by immunohistochemistry, and the expressions of ERK1/2, JNK1 and p38 mRNA were detected by qRT-PCR.
Results
In vitro, no strong inhibitory effects of PAC were found in various tumor cells after 48 or 72 h of administration. Interestingly however, after 40 days of cultivation under PAC, an inhibitory effect on B16F10 cells was found. Correspondingly, the long-time administration of PAC led to downregulation of Bcl-2 protein (P<0.05), up-regulation of Caspase-3 protein (P<0.05) and ERK1 mRNA (P<0.05) in B16F10 cells. The above results were verified by in vivo experiments. In addition, viability of B16F10 cells under long-time administration culture in vitro decreased after drug withdrawal, and similar results were also observed in 4T1 cells.
Conclusions
Long-time administration of PAC can significantly inhibit viability and promote apoptosis of tumor cells, and had obvious antitumor effect in tumor-bearing mice.
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Zhou QC and Xiao SL contributed equally to this work. Lin YB and Mo ZX participated in conception and design of the research; Zhou QC, Xiao SL, Chen ZJ and Chen YF performed the animal experiments; Zhou QC and Chen ZJ performed the cell experiments; Xiao SL, Lin RK and Li C participated in the data collection and statistical analysis; Luo CH and Lin YB reviewed the manuscript. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Supported by National Science Foundation of China (No. 81828014)
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Zhou, Qc., Xiao, Sl., Lin, Rk. et al. Polysaccharide of Alocasia cucullata Exerts Antitumor Effect by Regulating Bcl-2, Caspase-3 and ERK1/2 Expressions during Long-Time Administration. Chin. J. Integr. Med. 30, 52–61 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-023-3700-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-023-3700-6