Experimental Study Of Gecko Homogenates On H22Hepatocellular Carcinoma Transplanted In Renal Capsule Of Mice

Objective Gecko is one of the traditional Chinese medicines. Pharmacological studiesfound that gecko have antitumor activities for many years, especially digestive systemtumors such as live cancer. There is still limited information about the mechanism andtarget of the antitumor effect of gecko in vivo. The aim of our study is to investigate theantitumor effect and mechanism of Gecko homogenates on H22transplanted under therenal capsule in Kunming mice in vivo. To supply experiment and theory foundation forgecko’s appliance in treating tumors in clinic.Methods Xenograft H22liver cancer model was established. Fifty Kunming micewere randomly divided into five groups: Control group (normal saline), ADR group(0.002g/Kg), Gecko homogenates groups (5g/Kg,2.5g/Kg,1.25g/Kg). Drugs wereinjected for6days. The mice were weighed, and drug toxicity was evaluated by finalweight(FBW)and initiative weight (IBW). Tumor volume was measured using caliper.Tumor tissue, thymus and spleen were weighed. The inhibitory rate, thymus index andspleen index were calculated, respectively. The expression of VEGF was detected byimmunohistochemistry. The protein levels of interleukin-6(IL-6) and tumor necrosisfactor-α (TNF-α) in mice subrenal capsule xenograft model of H22hepatocellularcarcinoma by ELISA assay.The levels of serum ALT, AST, creatinine and BUN weredetermined. Kidney and live were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE) stain forsubsequent microscopic examination.Results Gecko homogenates inhibited the growth of H22sarcoma in mice. The meaninhibitory rate of tumor of ADR，Gecko homogenates(high dose、middle dose and lowdose)was87.35%,85.47%,67.14%,42.33%, respectively. HE stain showed that theexpression of VEGF was lowered significantly compared with the control group. Geckohomogenates (GH) decreased the levels of IL-6protein while increased levels of TNF-αprotein in mice subrenal capsule xenograft model of H22hepatocellular carcinoma. Thethymus index, Spleen index and WBC numbers in gecko homogenates groups had nosignificant difference. The FBW/IBW of gecko homogenates groups was0.9032,0.9247,0.9074respectively. There is no significant difference in FBW/IBW compared with thecontrol group (FBW/IBW=0.9379). HE staining showed that there was no significant difference between the gecko homogenates groups and the NS group, These resultsindicated that Gecko have no influence on kidney and live. Compared with the NS group,the ALT, AST, BUN and Cr of ADR group had significant difference. In contrast, geckohomogenates groups had no significant difference. Compared with the ADR group, theALT, AST, BUN and Cr of gecko homogenates groups had significant difference.Conclusion Gecko homogenates has anti-cancer effects in vivo. These anti-tumormechanism may be involved in decreasing the expression of VEGF and IL-6levels，increasing the levels of TNF-αin serum，thereby inhibiting tumor angiogenesis. Geckohomogenates could not enhance the immune functions, the liver and kidney functionsshowed normal findings and low toxicity.