Abstract
Lycium barbarum polysaccharide (LBP) is isolated from the fruit of Chinese herbal Lycium barbarum. Previous studies had demonstrated that LBP could inhibit tumor growth and enhance the immunity in mice. However, the effect of LBP on systemic and local immune responses in vivo, especially on phenotypic and functional changes of T cells, is still largely unknown. In the present study, we investigated the effects of LBP on systemic and local T cell-dependent antitumor immune responses in H22 tumor-bearing mice. The results showed that LBP could inhibit the solid tumor growth in mice, but showed little effect on the body weight or spleen index. Furthermore, LBP could maintain high levels of T cells in peripheral blood (PB), tumor draining lymph node (TDLN), and tumor tissue, prevent the increase of Tregs while promote infiltration of CD8+ T cells in tumor tissue, inhibit the production of TGF-β1 and IL-10 in serum, decrease the exhaustion phenotype of T cells, and maintain cytotoxicity of lymphocytes. Taken together, our results demonstrated that LBP simultaneously induced systemic and local immune responses in H22 tumor-bearing mice by alleviating immunosuppression and maintaining antitumor immune responses in mice.
Highlights
Lycium barbarum polysaccharide (LBP) is isolated from the fruit of edible Chinese herbal Lycium barbarum
Studies reported that LBP could inhibit tumor growth in mice [1,2,3]; our previous study demonstrated that the antitumor activity of LBP was closely related to its molecular weight and LBP with medium molecular weight (40–350 kDa) had the highest antitumor activity in H22 tumor-bearing mice [23]
We further investigated the effect of such LBP on the systemic and local immune responses in H22 tumor-bearing mice
Summary
Lycium barbarum polysaccharide (LBP) is isolated from the fruit of edible Chinese herbal Lycium barbarum. The antitumor activity of LBP had been demonstrated in the tumorbearing mice that it could inhibit transplantable sarcoma S180 [2] and hepatoma H22 tumor growth in mice [1]. Tregs can suppress antitumor responses of CD8+ CTL and CD4+ Th. Tregs can suppress antitumor responses of CD8+ CTL and CD4+ Th It had been demonstrated in tumor-bearing mice that the depletion of Tregs could enhance antitumor immunity and inhibit tumor growth [19]. It is one of the most promising methods for cancer therapy to maintain an effective antitumor T-cell response in cancer patients. Immunotherapy which activates the immune system to fight against cancer cells has become an effective approach in some cancer treatments
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