Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Efficacy of Lycium barbarum polysaccharide and synergism with paclitaxel/cisplatin in ovarian cancer in mice

Lei Zhu¹, Yunguo Han², Hongmei Wang³

¹Department of Pharmacy, Yancheng First People's Hospital, Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, 224006; ²Department of Pharmacy, Binzhou Central Hospital, Binzhou, Shandong Province, 251700; ³Department of Endocrinology, People's Hospital Affiliated to Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, 010000, China.

For correspondence:- Hongmei Wang Email: HMWang00@126.com

Received: 11 January 2017 Accepted: 5 June 2017 Published: 31 July 2017

Citation: Zhu L, Han Y, Wang H. Efficacy of Lycium barbarum polysaccharide and synergism with paclitaxel/cisplatin in ovarian cancer in mice. Trop J Pharm Res 2017; 16(7):1645-1653 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v16i7.25

© 2017 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To determine the efficacy of Lycium barbarum polysaccharide (LBP) in ovarian cancer, and the synergistic effect when used in combination with paclitaxel/cisplatin (PXTW25;DDP).

Methods: ID-8 cells were injected subcutaneously into 5 groups of female C57BL/6 mice (5 mice/group): control (Con), chemotherapy (CH, PTX/DDP), combination therapy 1 (co-CH1, PTX/DDP + 50 mg/kg LBP), combination therapy 2 (co-CH2, 100 mg/kg LBP) and combination therapy 3 (co-CH3, 150 mg/kg LBP). Tissue morphological changes were monitored by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. Protein and mRNA levels of Keap1, Nrf2) and heme oxygenase-1 (HemO-1) were analyzed by western blotting and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), as applicable.

Results: Growth rate and volume of tumors were significantly reduced in the chemotherapy and combination therapy groups, while organ index increased significantly in co-CH group. Morphological structure of tumor, liver and kidney became normal after combination therapy. Levels of alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), uric acid (UA), creatinine (Cr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) were significantly decreased in co-CH group relative to CH group. Lymphocytes, monocytes (MNC), neutrophils, basophils and eosnophils were significantly regulated by combination therapy. In CH and co-CH1-3 groups, the mRNA and protein levels of Keap1, HO-1 and Nrf2 were significantly increased relative to those of control mice.

Conclusion: LBP in combination with PXTW25;DDP enhances the efficacy of the latter, and reduced its toxicity when used for the treatment of ovarian malignant tumor in mice, by activating Keap1/Nrf2 pathway and promoting immunity.

Keywords: Lycium barbarum polysaccharide (LBP), Paclitaxel/Cisplatin, Keap1/Nrf2 pathway, Cytotoxicity