Experimental Study Of Qilan Granulates' Effects On Rats' Immune System During 4-Nitroquinoline 1-oxide-induced Cancinogenesis

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate immunocompetence in relation to cancer progression in rat and how this Chinese herbal medicine Qilan Granulates works by observing the changes of some immune factors in Qilan Granulates-administered 4NQO-induced rat tongue carcinogenesis.Method: A total of 150 Sprague-Dawley(SD) rats were divided into five groups: one carcinogenesis model group(group A), three administration subgroups(group B,C,D) and one nomal control group (group E). Rats in group A,B,C,D were fed with 0.002% 4NQO dissolved in drinking water to induce tongue carcinogenesis in rats. Different concentration of the herb Qilan Granulates was given to the rats during oral carcingogenesis. Rats were sacrifuced at 9,18,27and36weeks respectively from the beginning of the experiment. The tongue of the rats were dissected for gross and histological assessment. Blood samples were taken after treatment. Lymphocyte subsets and cytocline were determined by flow cytometry and ELISA. All data was analyzed by MONOVA or multi-way classification ANOVA. Every two groups were compared when there was statistical significance.Result: 1. The cancer rates in group B,C,Dat 36 week were significantly lower than that in group A(p<0.05). While the total cancer rate in B,C,D were also sinificantly lower than that in group A(p<0.05),and the time for carcinogenesis was delayed about nine weeks. 2.The percentage of CD3 and CD4,CD4/CD8 ratio,and the level of IL-2 and IL-10 have significant diffierce in pathological classification. The pecentage of CD3 and CD4 T cell: No pathological changes group> dysplasia group>squamous cell carcinoma group; CD4/CD8 ratio in carcinoma was lower than that in dysplasia and no pathological changes samples(p<0.05). The percentage of NK cell in cachexia was lower than that in others. The level of IL-2: No pathological changes group>dysplasia group>squamous cell carcinoma group; the level of IL-10: No pathological changes group< dysplasia groupgroup C>group A;the level of IL-10 in group B and group C was lower than that in group A(p<0.01); The level of CD8+ T cell and TNF-αhave no significant difference among groups. Conclusion: 1. Qilan Granulates has the ability to block and inhibit the process of carcinogenesis. 2. Qilan Granulates can stabilize the blood T cells and T-helper cells level,maybe its function is to improve immune recognition and response capabilities, and enhance anti-cancer ablility of the body. 3. Qilan Granulates can inhibit the sacretion levels of IL-10,weak immune supression mechannisms in cancer, thus increasing the capacity of the tumor suppressor. 4. The medium dose on the role of the immune system is more effective than low-dose and hign-dose,which shows the same result as that in cancer rate.