Effects of moxibustion on Treg cells in sarcoma microenvironment

Objective:To investigate the therapeutic effect of moxibustion on sarcomas from mesenchymal tissues,which have a low response rate to chemotherapy and radiotherapy.Methods:S180 sarcoma cell line was inoculated in C57 BL/6 mice to form transplanted tumor.Moxibustion therapy was directly applied at the transplanted tumor sites,at a distance of 3.0 cm,10 min per session,till skin temperature reached 45°C,once a day,for 14 consecutive days of intervention.After the mice were killed,serum was collected and used to detect concentrations of interleukin-10(IL-10),transforming growth factor-b1(TGF-b1),IL-4 and interferon-c(IFN-c)by Luminex liquid suspension chip.The numbers of Treg^(^(+) )T cells and CD4^(+) CD25^(+) Forkhead Box P3(Foxp3)^(+) T cells were detected by flow cytometry.Fluorescence in situ hybridization was used to analyze the changes of CD4,CD8,Foxp3 and TGF-b1 in the tumor microenvironment(TME).Results:Weight of S180 transplanted tumor in the control group was(2.03±0.54)g,and that in the moxibustion group was(1.27±0.29)g,which was statistically different(P=0.023).The mean value of Foxp3^(+) T cells in the normal group was 2.01%,which increased to 3.63%after the formation of transplanted tumor,and decreased to 1.48%after moxibustion treatment.The moxibustion group also had reduced numbers of CD4^(+) CD25^(+) Foxp3^(+) T cells in the spleen of mice with transplanted tumor.The concentrations of IL-10,TGF-b1 and IL-4 decreased in the serum of mice with transplanted tumor,while the concentration of IFN-c increased.Moxibustion was associated with downregulation in expression of Foxp3,IL-10 and TGF-b1 genes in the transplanted tumor,and increases in the gene expression of CD4^(+) T cells and CD8^(+) T cells in the TME.Conclusion:Moxibustion may have therapeutic effects on sarcomas by reducing the number of Treg cells in the blood and controlling the infiltration of Treg cells in the TME.