Effect of lupeol on invasion and metastasis of human hepatoma HepG2 and SK-HEP-1 cells and its mechanism / 中国中药杂志

Epithelial-mesenchymal transformation(EMT) exists in embryonic development and is closely related to cell migration and invasion. The increased EMT level in tumors showed that E-cadherin was replaced by N-cadherin, and the expression of interstitial markers such as α-SMA and vimentin was up-regulated. It has been reported that lupeol can reduce the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2(MMP-2), matrix metalloproteinase-9(MMP-9) and N-cadherin to inhibit the metastasis of osteoma cells. However lupeol has been less studied in liver cancer. Therefore, this paper investigated the effect of lupanol on invasion and metastasis of human hepatoma cell line HepG2 and SK-HEP-1 and its possible mechanism. MTT assay and Annexin V/PI double staining were used to investigate the effect of lupeol on activity and apoptosis of HepG2 cells and SK-HEP-1 cells. Moreover, the effect of lupeol on the invasion of HepG2 cells and SK-HEP-1 cells were evaluated by Transwell assay. The expressions of E-cadherin, N-cadherin, α-SMA, vimentin and MMP-9 were measured by Western blot. The model of subcutaneous transplantation of nude mice and the lung metastasis model of H22 hepatocellular carcinoma cells were established to evaluate the efficacy of lupeol in vivo on tumor growth and lung metastasis by HE staining combined with immunohistochemical assay. The results showed that lupeol inhibited the activity and invasion of HepG2 cells and SK-HEP-1 cells in a dose-dependent manner and induced apoptosis. Western blot showed that the expression of E-cadherin, a landmark protein for EMT, was induced by lupeol, and the expressions of N-cadherin, α-SMA, vimentin and MMP-9 were decreased. In vivo experiments showed that lupeol inhibited tumor growth in mice bearing xenograft. In addition, immunohistochemical experiments confirmed that lupeol could up-regulate the expression of E-cadherin in tumor tissues of nude mice, reduce the expression of N-cadherin, and inhibit the metastasis of liver cancer H22 cells in the lungs of mice. The above results indicated that the mechanism of lupeol inhibiting the invasion and metastasis of HCC cells may be related to the regulation of EMT process.

Wrist-ankle needle combined with opioid drugs on refractory cancer pain: a randomized controlled trial / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To compare the clinical effect of wrist-ankle needle combined with opioid drugs and opioid drugs alone in treating refractory cancer pain.@*METHODS@#Sixty patients were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, 30 cases in each one. The opioid drugs in accordance with the three-step analgesic principle and other auxiliary drugs were treated in the control group. On the basis of the treatment in the control group, wrist-ankle needle was added in the observation group, and acupoints were selected according to the pain site and the primary focus, the treatment was given once a day for 10 days. The visual analogue scale (VAS) score, the times of pain outbreaks and the incidence of adverse reactions were compared at the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th and 10th days of treatment and the 3rd and 7th days after treatment. The therapeutic effect in the two groups were compared after treatment.@*RESULTS@#Compared with the control group, the VAS scores in the observation group were significantly reduced from the 2nd day of wrist-ankle needle treatment, and continued to the 3rd day after the end of the treatment (0.05); compared with the control group, the times of pain outbreaks in the observation group decreased from the 2nd day to the 10th day of treatment (all <0.05); the incidence of nausea, vomiting and constipation in the observation group was significantly reduced compared with the control group (<0.05); the total effective rate in the observation group was 86.7% (26/30), which was higher than 76.7% (23/30) in the control group (<0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#Wrist-ankle needle combined with opioid drugs can increase the efficacy of the refractory cancer pain and reduce the adverse reactions of opioid drugs.