Effects of body-resistance strengthening and tumor-suppressing granules on immune adhesion function of red blood cells and expression of metastasis protein CD44 in tumor cells of patients with esophageal carcinoma

AIM： To investigate the effects of Fuzheng Yiliu granules （body-resistance strengthening and tumor-suppressing granules） in patients with esophageal carcinoma. METHODS： We compared the immune adherent properties of red blood cells （RBCs）, the expression of metastasis protein CD44, and the metastasis inhibition factor nm23, in esophageal carcinoma tumor cells of patients before and after radiotherapy in the presence and absence of orally administered Fuzheng Yiliu granules. Sixty-three hospitalized patients with esophageal carcinoma were treated with standard radiotherapy and randomly divided into treatment group （n = 30） treated with both radiotherapy and Fuzheng Yiliu granules and control group （n = 33） given radiotherapy only. Blood samples and tumor tissue were obtained before and after 21 d of treatment. The rosette rates for complement receptor type 3b （C3bRR） and immune complex receptor （ICRR） on RBCs were measured by erythrocyte immunological methods. Expression of CD44 and rim23 in tumor tissue sections was determined by immunohistochemical staining with monoclonal antibodies CD44v6 ad nm23H-1, respectively. RESULTS： The positivity of RBC-C3bRR before and after 21 d of treatment increased from 7.78% ± 1.59% to 10.03% ± 2.01% in the double treatment group, while it changed only slightly from 7.18% ± 1.29% to 7.46% ± 1.12% in the radiotherapy group. The positive rate for RBC-ICRR decreased from 37.68% ± 2.51% to 22.55% ± 1.65% after the double treatment, and from 37.28% ± 2.41% to 24.69% ± 1.91% in radiotherapy group at the same time points. The difference in erythrocyte immune adherent function between the two groups was significant （P 〈 0.01, t-test）. The CD44^± - cases were reduced from 21 （70.00%） to 12 （40.00%） after treatment with Fuzheng Yiliu granules, whereas the CD44^± -cases （69.70%） in the radiotherapy group remained unchanged. The difference between the treatment （40.00%） and control （69.70%） groups was significant （P 〈 0.05）. Although the nm23^± -cases were increased from 4 （13.33%） to 6 （20.00%） in the double treatment group and from 6 （18.18%） to 7 （21.21%） in the radiotherapy group, the difference was not significant （P 〉 0.05）. CONCLUSION： Fuzheng Yiliu granules enhance the immune adhesion function of RBCs and reduce the number of CD44^± -cells in esophageal carcinoma patients, suggesting a potential role of these Chinese herbals in suppression of invasion and metastasis of malignant cells. However, this anti-metastatic effect has yet to be validated in vivo.

Fuzheng Yiliu Granule(扶正抑瘤颗粒)Inhibits the Growth of Hepatocellular Cancer by Regulating Immune Function and Inducing Apoptosis In Vivo and In Vitro

Objective：To study the inhibitory effect of Fuzheng Yiliu Granule（扶正抑瘤颗粒,FYG） on hepatocellular cancer（HCC） and investigate the mechanism mediating its bioactivity.Methods：H22 tumor-bearing ICR mice were treated with FYG[3.6 g/（kg·d）]for 5 days.Tumor volume and tumor weight,percentages of CD3~＋,CD4~＋,CD8~＋,and natural killer（NK） cells in peripheral blood,tumor apoptosis and serum levels of interleukin-2（IL-2）,and tumor necrosis factor-α（TNF-α） were evaluated.FYG-containing serum was prepared from SD rats treated for 7 days[high dose 3.6 g/（kg·d）;middle dose 1.8 g/（kg·d）;low dose 0.9 g/（kg·d）].Cell cycle,cell viability,and apoptosis were evaluated after HepG2 cell line was cultured in FYG-containing serum for 48 h.The levels of IL-2 and TNF-αin FYG-containing serum were also determined.Results：FYG produced a potent antitumor effect（P0.01） and induced marked apoptosis of the tumor tissue（P0.05）.Mice treated with FYG had higher percentages of CD3~＋ and CD4~＋（P0.05）,and more NK cells（P0.01） in the peripheral blood than those in the animals treated with normal saline.Mice receiving FYG had the highest serum levels of IL-2 and TNF-α（P0.01）.High-dose FYG-containing serum significantly decreased HepG2 cell viability,inhibited cell proliferation（P0.05）,and induced apoptosis（P0.01）.In addition,the levels of IL-2 and TNF-αof highdose -containing serum were higher than the blank serum（P0.01）.Conclusion：FYG could inhibit HCC growth by regulating immune function and inducing apoptosis of tumor cells in vivo and in vitro.