1 Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University , Xi'an 710032, China.
2 Department of Aerospace Physiology, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China.
Exp Biol Med (Maywood). 2018 Apr;243(7):645-654. doi: 10.1177/1535370218762514. Epub 2018 Feb 27.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most malignant diseases worldwide. The unfavorable clinical outcome and poor prognosis are due to high rates of recurrence and metastasis after treatments. Some scholars of traditional Chinese medicine suggested that endogenous wind-evil had played an important role in metastasis of malignant tumor. Therefore, the drug of dispelling wind-evil could be used to prevent cancer metastasis and improve the poor prognosis. So we wondered whether Scorpion, one of the most important wind calming drugs, has antitumor effect especially in epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and metastasis of HCC in this research. We found that Scorpion-medicated serum could inhibit proliferation, induce apoptosis, and decrease migration and invasion capacity of Hepa1-6 cells in vitro. Meanwhile, we observed that water decoction of Scorpion restrained tumor growth and metastasis in nude mouse of HCC metastasis models. Further experiments showed that Scorpion could suppress EMT, which is characterized by increased epithelial marker E-cadherin expression and decreased mesenchymal markers N-cadherin and Snail expression following Scorpion treatment both in vitro and in vivo. These results suggested that the Scorpion could inhibit Hepa1-6 cells' invasion and metastasis in part by reversing EMT and providing a possible potential approach for preventing HCC metastasis. Impact statement The unfavorable clinical outcome and poor prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are due to high rates of recurrence and metastasis after treatments. Here we found Scorpion, one of the most important wind calming drugs, has antitumor effect. Scorpion-medicated serum inhibited the proliferation, induced apoptosis, and decreased migration and invasion capacity of Hepa1-6 cells in vitro. Water decoction of Scorpion restrained tumor growth and metastasis in nude mouse of HCC metastasis models. Further experiments showed that Scorpion could suppress EMT of HCC both in vitro and in vivo. Our results suggested that the Scorpion could inhibit Hepa1-6 cells' invasion and metastasis in part by reversing EMT and providing a possible potential approach for preventing HCC metastasis.
肝细胞癌 (HCC) 是全球最恶性的疾病之一。治疗后复发和转移率高，导致临床结局不佳和预后不良。一些中医学者认为，内风邪在恶性肿瘤转移中起重要作用。因此，祛风邪的药物可用于预防癌症转移，改善预后不良。因此，我们想知道蝎子作为最重要的祛风药之一，在本研究中是否对 HCC 的 EMT 和转移具有抗肿瘤作用。我们发现蝎子含药血清可抑制 Hepa1-6 细胞的体外增殖、诱导凋亡，并降低迁移和侵袭能力。同时，我们观察到蝎子水煎剂可抑制 HCC 裸鼠转移模型中的肿瘤生长和转移。进一步的实验表明，蝎子可抑制 EMT，这表现在蝎子处理后，上皮标志物 E-钙黏蛋白表达增加，间充质标志物 N-钙黏蛋白和 Snail 表达减少，无论是在体外还是体内。这些结果表明，蝎子可通过逆转 EMT 抑制 Hepa1-6 细胞的侵袭和转移，为预防 HCC 转移提供了一种可能的潜在方法。
