Effects of Xihuang Pills on proliferation and apoptosis of prostate cancer LNCaP cells based on AR/m TOR signaling pathway / 中国中药杂志

Based on the androgen receptor(AR)/mammalian target of rapamycin(mTOR)signaling pathway, the effects of Xihuang Pills-medicated serum on the proliferation and apoptosis of prostate cancer LNCaP cells were investigated. The drug-containing serum of SD rats was prepared by intragastric administration of Xihuang Pills suspension. The effects of low-, medium-, and high-dose Xihuang Pills-containing serum on the in vitro proliferation of LNCaP cells were detected by cell counting kit-8(CCK-8). Flow cytometry was used to detect the apoptosis level of LNCaP cells after intervention with different concentrations of Xihuang Pills. Protein expression of cleaved cysteinyl aspartate-specific proteinase caspase-3(cleaved caspase-3), B-cell lymphoma-2(Bcl-2), and AR as well as the phosphorylation level of mTOR protein were detected by Western blot. The results showed that compared with the blank serum, the drug-medicated serum could blunt the activity of LNCaP cells. Low-, medium-, and high-dose Xihuang Pills-containing serum could significantly increase the cell apoptosis rate, increase the expression of cleaved caspase-3 protein, decrease the expression of Bcl-2 protein, reduce the expression of AR protein, and down-regulate the level of phosphorylated mTOR(p-mTOR). To study the effect of Xihuang Pills on the growth of LNCaP cells in vivo, different doses of Xihuang Pills were used to intervene in the subcutaneous graft model in nude mice inoculated with LNCaP cells. The expression levels of AR, mTOR, p-mTOR, Bcl-2, and cleaved caspase-3 were detected by Western blot. The results showed that the volumes of subcutaneous graft tumor in the low-dose, medium-dose, and high-dose Xihuang Pills groups significantly decreased compared with that in the model group. The weight of subcutaneous transplanted tumor in each group with drug intervention was significantly lower than that in the model group. Compared with the model group, the low-dose, medium-dose, and high-dose Xihuang Pills groups showed increased cleaved caspase-3 protein expression, decreased Bcl-2 and AR protein expression, and reduced p-mTOR protein expression. Further experiments showed that AR agonist R1881 could block the anti-proliferation and pro-apoptotic effects of Xihuang Pills. The mechanism of Xihuang Pills against prostate cancer is related to the inhibition of the AR/mTOR signaling pathway, inhibition of LNCaP cell proliferation, and induction of apoptosis in cancer cells.

Pathological Relationship between Intestinal Flora and Osteoarthritis and Intervention Mechanism of Chinese Medicine / 中国结合医学杂志

Chinese medicine (CM) has a good clinical effect on osteoarthritis (OA), but the mechanism is not very clear. Evidence-based medicine researches have shown that intestinal flora plays a role in the pathogenesis and succession of OA. Intestinal flora affects the efficacy of CM, and CM can affect the balance of intestinal flora. This paper focuses on the relationship between intestinal flora, intestinal microenvironment, brain-gut axis, metabolic immunity and OA, and preliminarily expound the significance of intestinal flora in the pathogenesis of OA and the mechanism of CM intervention. The above discussion will be of great significance in the prevention and treatment of OA by CM from the perspective of intestinal flora.