Abstract
The aim of the present study was to investigate the anticancer and immunity activity of β-carotene in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) rats. Three days after transplantation, forty Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups, each group consisting of 10 animals. These groups were control group (untreated), low-dose β-carotene-treated group (20 mg/kg), middle-dose group (40 mg/kg) and high-dose (60 mg/kg) group. β-Carotene-treated groups were fed with β-carotene (20, 40, 60 mg/kg b.w.) orally for 30 days. Control group was treated with the same volume of physiological saline. Another ten rats were served as the normal group. Results showed that 30 days of β-carotene treatment could significantly inhibit tumour growth, enhance blood NK, IL-2, TNF-α, WBC, TP, ALB and A/G levels, and decrease blood ALT, AST and ALP activities in HCC rats. Pathological analysis of liver tissue showed that β-carotene treatment may decrease damage of liver tissue in HCC rats. It can be concluded that β-carotene may improve the immunity function and inhibit tumour growth in HCC rats.
Highlights
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common malignancy in the World
We investigate the effect of β-carotene on immunity function and tumour growth in H22 bearing rats
Administration of β-carotene (20, 40 and 60 mg/kg) dose-dependently significantly increased blood Natural killer (NK), IL-2 and TNF-α of β-carotenetreated HCC animals compared to the untreated HCC rats (Table 2)
Summary
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common malignancy in the World. In China, it is the second major cause of cancer death in males and the third in females [1,2]. Epidemiological and animal studies [12,13] advanced the idea that β-carotene can prevent cancer. By the early 1980s, there were a large number of epidemiological studies associating β-carotene intake with lower incidence of epithelial cancers, lung cancer. Alpha-Tocopherol Beta-Carotene Cancer prevention study (ATBC study) in Finland [15] and another study by the Beta-Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial (CARET) [16]. In these both studies a higher incidence of lung cancer among smoking men that received β-carotene was observed in comparison with smokers that did not receive β-carotene. We investigate the effect of β-carotene on immunity function and tumour growth in H22 bearing rats
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