Lycium barbarum polysaccharide reduces lung cancer immunotherapy-related endocrine adverse reactions and improves prognosis via interleukin-2

Abstract

This paper studies the mechanism of Lycium barbarum polysaccharide (LBP) in adverse reactions after immunotherapy. Five groups including model group, low-dose LBP group, middle-dose LBP group, high-dose LBP group, and interleukin-2 (IL-2) inhibitor group were set up. Adverse reactions after immunotherapy were observed through staining, blood collection and related experiments. IL-2 content was detected by ELISA, RT-qPCR and Western blot. The correlation coefficient between adverse reactions and prognosis was analyzed by Pearson software. LBP improved the diarrhea after immunotherapy and inhibition of IL-2 made the diarrhea more serious. Neutrophils around the hair follicles in the high-dose LBP group were less while they were more in model group where the hair follicles were blocked. The follicles in model group were more swelled while the follicles of high-dose LBP group had fewer swollen follicles. The degree of liver damage was inversely proportional to the concentration of LBP and the inhibition of IL-2 increased liver damage. The increased LBP promoted the improvement of immune function. LBP had a positive correlation with IL-2 level. The expression of IL-2 and E-cadherin increased with increased LBP concentration. Further analysis showed a negative correlation between diarrhea, ALT activity and AST activity and E-cadherin expression. Positive correlation between CD4+/CD8+ level and E-cadherin was observed. Conclusively, LBP could reduce adverse reactions after immunotherapy and promote IL-2 expression. IL-2 is related to immune function and its decrease causes more serious adverse reactions after immunotherapy. Thus, LBP can control IL-2 expression to reduce the adverse reactions after immunotherapy.