Effect of matrine on tumor growth and inflammatory factors and immune function in Wistar rat with breast cancer

Abstract

To study the effect of matrine on tumor growth, inflammatory factors and immune function in Wistar rat with breast cancer. Sixty female Wistar rats were randomly divided into control group (n=10) and the modeling group of breast cancer cell tumor-bearing rat (n=50), then the rats in modeling group were randomly divided into five groups (n=10):vehicle group, matrine low dose group (50 mg/kg), medium dose group (100 mg/kg), high dose group (200 mg/kg), and lentinan group (200 mg/kg). Except the control group, each rat in the other groups was subcutaneously inoculated 0.4 ml Walker 256 breast cancer cell suspension (5×107 cells/ml) in the right axillary. Each group was treated with corresponding drug by ig administration (10 ml/kg body weight) twice a day for 14 days. After 14 days, the blood sample was collected from ventral aorta, the tumor was removed and weighed to calculate tumor inhibitory rate. The levels of interleukin-2 (IL-2), interferon-γ (IFN-γ), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-10 (IL-10), transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, IgG, IgM, IgA in peripheral blood were determined. The mean tumor weight of matrine low-dose, medium-dose, high-dose groups and lentinan group were (4.99±0.93) g, (4.52±0.92) g, (4.22±1.18) g and (4.52±0.92) g respectively, which were significantly lower than that in model group. There was no statistical difference on the mean tumor weight among matrine groups and lentinan group (P>0.05). After the drug intervention, the tumor inhibitory rates of matrine low-dose, medium dose, high-dose groups and lentinan group were 24.6%, 31.7%, 36.3%, and 27.9% respectively, there was no statistical difference among the four groups. The levels of IL-2, IFN-γ, CD8+ in vehicle group were lower than those of control group obviously (P<0.01), however, the levels of IL-6, IL-10, TGF-β, CD3+, CD4+, IgG, IgM, IgA were higher significantly than those of control group (P<0.01). The levels of IL-2, IFN-γ, CD8+ in matrine low-dose, medium dose, high-dose groups and lentinan group were higher than those of vehicle group obviously (P<0.01, P<0.05); while the levels of IL-6, IL-10, TGF-β, CD3+, CD4+, IgG, IgM, IgA were lower than those of model group markedly (P<0.01, P<0.05). The levels of IgM and IgA in matrine low-dose and medium-dose groups were higher than those of lentinan group obviously (P<0.01, P<0.05); the levels of IL-2, IFN-γ and IgA in matrine high-dose group were higher than those of lentinan group obviously (P<0.01, P<0.05); while the levels of IFN-γ in matrine low-dose group were lower than those of lentinan group markedly (P<0.05); the levels of IL-10 and CD4+ in matrine high-dose group were lower than those of lentinan group markedly (P<0.01, P<0.05). Matrine has an obvious antitumor action which is related to its ability to enhance cellular and humoral immunity, reduce inflammatory reaction.