Aikang tablets inhibit growth of human lung cancer xenografts in mice

Background:Chinese medicines have shown some advantages in preventing and controlling tumors.Tumor-associated macrophages and the immune factors of the tumor microenvironment all exist in the tumor microenvironment and play important role in the development and prognosis of tumors.Thus,targeting tumor-associated macrophages and immune factors to prevent and treat tumors has become a hotspot in the field of antitumor research of the traditional Chinese medicine.Methods:The inhibition of Chinese patent drug Aikang tablets to the growth of lung cancer was evaluated by calculating the relative tumor volume and relative tumor growth rate using the mouse model of human lung cancer xenograft.The effect of Aikang tablets on the tumor microenvironment was studied through the detection of the immune factors in the tumor microenvironment and serum with high-throughput liquid protein chip detection.Tumor-associated macrophages,M1,M2,and M2/M1 were examined histologically and analyzed immunohistochemically.Results:In this study,2.8 and 1.4 g/kg/day Aikang tablets could significantly inhibit the growth of human lung adenocarcinoma(P<0.05).Moreover,2.8,1.4,and 0.7 g/kg/day Aikang tablets significantly downregulated the MCP-3,MIP-2,and IL-2 serum content(P<0.05);1.4 and 0.7 g/kg/day Aikang tablets significantly downregulated the MCP-1 serum content(P<0.05),1.4 g/kg/day Aikang tablets significantly downregulated the MIP-1αserum content(P<0.05).Simultaneously,2.8 g/kg/day Aikang tablets significantly downregulated the MIP-1βcontent in the tumor microenvironment(P<0.01);1.4 g/kg/day Aikang tablets significantly downregulated regulated upon activation,normal T Cell expressed and presumably secreted content in the tumor microenvironment(P<0.01);and 0.7 g/kg/day Aikang tablets significantly downregulated the MCP-1 and MCP-3 contents in tumor microenvironment(P<0.01).The results also showed that 2.8 and 1.4 g/kg/day Aikang tablets significantly increased the number of the M1 subtypes(P<0.05)and decreased the ratio of M2/M1(P<0.01).Conclusions:The results showed that Aikang tablets could inhibit the growth of human lung adenocarcinoma xenograft in mice but not squamous cell carcinoma and small cell carcinoma.Moreover,the mechanism should be related to increasing the number of tumor-associated macrophage subtype M1,decreasing the proportion of tumor-associated macrophage subtypes(M2/M1),and decreasing the level of immune factors in serum and tumor microenvironment.