Oxymatrine combined with all-trans retinoic acid interferes with the changes of cytokines in the process of liver cancer in rats

  OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of oxymatrine (OMT) combined with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) in inhibiting the formation of diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced rat liver cancer, and to explore its mechanism of action 。

  Methods: DEN was used to induce the establishment of a rat model of liver cancer, and the model was established for 18 weeks. Wistar rats were randomly divided into a blank group, a model group, and an intervention group. The rats were sacrificed at 6, 12, and 18 weeks after the induction of cancer, and the rats were stained by HE Observe the pathological changes of rat liver tissue, detect the related indexes of rat liver function, and detect rat IL-6 content by ELISA; use RT-qPCR to detect rat let-7a, NF-κBp65, IL-6, STAT3mRNA expression changes; adopt Western blot detection of protein changes in rat STAT3 and p-STAT3.

  Results: The pathological observation of HE staining showed that the number of liver cancer nodules in the intervention group was significantly less than that in the model group, and hepatocellular necrosis was reduced; compared with the model group, the intervention group’s serum IL-6 and liver function indexes ALT、GGT、 The levels of AST and ALP were significantly reduced (P<0.05); RT-qPCR detection results: Compared with the model group, the expression level of let-7amRNA in the liver tissue of rats in the intervention group was significantly increased, while NF-κB-p65, IL-6 and IL-6 STAT3mRNA expression was significantly reduced (P<0.05). At the 18th week of the experiment, Western blot showed that the protein expression of STAT3 and p-STAT3 in the intervention group was significantly lower than that in the model group (P<0.05).

  Conclusion: Oxymatrine combined with all-trans retinoic acid can significantly inhibit the formation of rat liver cancer induced by DEN, and delay tumor growth to a certain extent.