Key Laboratory of Radiopharmaceuticals, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Haidian district, Beijing, China.
BMC Complement Med Ther. 2020 Jan 15;20(1):11. doi: 10.1186/s12906-019-2797-9.
Cancer cachexia is a severe condition that leads to the death of advanced cancer patients, and approximately 50~80% of cancer patients have cancer cachexia. Ginseng extract has been reported to have substantial anticancer and immune-enhancing effects; however, no study has reported the use of ginseng alone to treat cancer cachexia. Our study's purpose was to investigate the therapeutic effects of ginseng-related monomers or mixtures on a cancer cachexia mouse model.
We selected BALB/c mice and injected the mice subcutaneously with C26 colon cancer cells to construct a cancer cachexia experimental animal model. The water extract of ginseng (WEG), two types of ginseng extracts (ginsenosides at doses of 5 mg/kg (GE5) and 50 mg/kg (GE50)) and ginsenoside Rb1 (Rb1) were used to treat cancer cachexia mice. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) were used to analyze the inhibitory effects on two key inflammatory cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6).
Our experimental results show that GE5, GE50 and Rb1 significantly reduced the levels of TNF-α (P < 0.01) and IL-6 (P < 0.01), which are closely related to cancer cachexia; however, WEG, GE5, GE50 and Rb1 did not significantly improve the gastrocnemius muscle weight or the epididymal fat weight of mice with cancer cachexia.
These results indicate that GE5, GE50 and Rb1 may be useful for reducing symptoms due to inflammation by reducing the TNF-α and IL-6 cytokine levels in cancer cachexia mice, thereby ameliorating the symptoms of cancer cachexia. Our results may be beneficial for future studies on the use of Chinese herbal medicines to treat cancer cachexia.
癌症恶病质是一种严重的疾病，会导致晚期癌症患者死亡，约 50%~80%的癌症患者患有癌症恶病质。人参提取物已被报道具有显著的抗癌和免疫增强作用；然而，尚无研究报告单独使用人参治疗癌症恶病质。我们的研究目的是探讨人参相关单体或混合物对癌症恶病质小鼠模型的治疗效果。
我们选择 BALB/c 小鼠，皮下注射 C26 结肠癌细胞构建癌症恶病质实验动物模型。用人参水提取物（WEG）、两种人参提取物（5mg/kg 剂量的人参皂苷（GE5）和 50mg/kg 剂量的人参皂苷（GE50））和人参皂苷 Rb1（Rb1）治疗癌症恶病质小鼠。采用酶联免疫吸附试验（ELISA）分析对两种关键炎症细胞因子肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）和白细胞介素-6（IL-6）的抑制作用。
我们的实验结果表明，GE5、GE50 和 Rb1 显著降低了与癌症恶病质密切相关的 TNF-α（P<0.01）和 IL-6（P<0.01）的水平；然而，WEG、GE5、GE50 和 Rb1 并未显著改善癌症恶病质小鼠的腓肠肌重量或附睾脂肪重量。
这些结果表明，GE5、GE50 和 Rb1 可能通过降低癌症恶病质小鼠 TNF-α 和 IL-6 细胞因子水平来减轻炎症引起的症状，从而改善癌症恶病质的症状。我们的结果可能有助于未来研究使用中药治疗癌症恶病质。
