Wushen, a food mixture containing 55 different natural ingredients, inhibits S180 tumor growth in vivo.

Abstract

As cancer has become a worldwide threat to human life and health, developing a safe and effective tumor-inhibiting agent is presently a major scientific challenge. In this study, a food mixture produced from 55 different natural ingredients called wushen was fed to S180 tumor-bearing mice, and the antitumor effects were investigated in vivo. Kunming mice were implanted subcutaneously in the armpit with murine sarcoma S180 cells to construct the S180 tumor-bearing mouse model. The mice were randomly divided into three groups: control, wushen and 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu). 5-Fu was used as the positive drug treatment to confirm the reliability of the model. The food intake, antitumor rate, and spleen and thymus indices were recorded. Tumor histopathology was conducted using hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. The catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase activities and the malondialdehyde concentration were measured to evaluate the antioxidative effects of the treatments. The antitumor rate of the mice fed wushen was 48.52%. Wushen-treated mice exhibited alterations in antioxidative enzyme activity and reduced liver lipid peroxidation. The results demonstrated that wushen has antitumor effects on S180 tumor-bearing mice in vivo, and the underlying mechanism is partially due to its antioxidant activity. Wushen, which contains various natural products, can be eaten directly and may be beneficial to human health.