El-Houseini Motawa Eisa, El-Agoza Ibrahim Ali, Sakr Mona Mohamed, El-Malky Ghada Mohamed
Department of Tumor Biology, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Cairo 11796, Egypt; Department of Pathology, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Cairo 11796, Egypt.
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt.
Exp Ther Med. 2017 Jan;13(1):29-36. doi: 10.3892/etm.2016.3952. Epub 2016 Dec 2.
Hepatocarcinogenesis is a prerequisite to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which is one of the most common cancers among humans. Therefore, it is important to search for agents that protect against hepatocarcinogenesis. The present study aimed to investigate the protective effects of a combination of taurine and curcumin against experimental hepatocarcinogenesis induced by diethyl nitrosamine (DENA) in a rat model. A total of 100 rats were divided into eight groups. Eight weeks following DENA injection and treatment with curcumin and taurine, the rats were sacrificed to obtain blood and hepatic tissue samples for the evaluation of various markers and histopathological observations. Serum levels of interleukin-2 (IL-2), interferon-γ (IFN-γ), α-fetoprotein (AFP) and α-L-fucosidase (AFU) were determined. Rats injected with DENA for eight weeks showed a high percentage of malignant changes in hepatic tissues, as well as a significant increases in the serum levels of AFP and AFU and significant reductions in the serum levels of IL-2 and IFN-γ. Treatment with curcumin and taurine markedly reduced the extent of malignant changes in the rat liver tissues, with their liver tissues showing patterns similar to that of the normal control rats. In addition, this combination resulted in normal serum levels of IL-2, IFN-γ, AFP and AFU. The results of the present study suggested that a combination of curcumin and taurine may be a novel prophylactic agent against hepatocarcinogenesis in high-risk groups exposed to chemical hepatocarcinogens.
肝癌发生是肝细胞癌（HCC）的前提条件，肝细胞癌是人类最常见的癌症之一。因此，寻找预防肝癌发生的药物很重要。本研究旨在探讨牛磺酸和姜黄素联合使用对二乙基亚硝胺（DENA）诱导的大鼠实验性肝癌发生的保护作用。总共100只大鼠被分为八组。在注射DENA并给予姜黄素和牛磺酸治疗八周后，处死大鼠以获取血液和肝脏组织样本，用于评估各种标志物和进行组织病理学观察。测定血清白细胞介素-2（IL-2）、干扰素-γ（IFN-γ）、甲胎蛋白（AFP）和α-L-岩藻糖苷酶（AFU）的水平。注射DENA八周的大鼠肝脏组织中出现高比例的恶性变化，同时血清AFP和AFU水平显著升高，血清IL-2和IFN-γ水平显著降低。姜黄素和牛磺酸治疗显著降低了大鼠肝脏组织中恶性变化的程度，其肝脏组织呈现出与正常对照大鼠相似的模式。此外，这种联合用药使血清IL-2、IFN-γ、AFP和AFU水平恢复正常。本研究结果表明，姜黄素和牛磺酸联合使用可能是一种针对暴露于化学致癌物的高危人群预防肝癌发生的新型预防药物。
