Traditional Chinese Medicine Brucea Javanica Oil Enhances the Efficacy of Anlotinib in a Mouse Model of Liver-Metastasis of Small-cell Lung Cancer

BACKGROUND/AIM

Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a recalcitrant disease with liver and other metastasis. The present study evaluated the efficacy of the traditional Chinese medicine Brucea javanica oil (BJO) combined with anlotinib, a multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitor with anti-angiogenic activity, on a nude-mouse model of SCLC liver metastasis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The mouse model was established by injecting NCI-H446 cells (1×10⁶) in Matrigel (20 μl) into the upper liver lobe. All animals were randomized and assigned to three groups: Control (n=8); anlotinib alone (n=8; 3 mg/kg, qd×14+7-day interval with two cycles, oral); anlotinib plus BJO (n=8; 3 mg/kg anlotinib qd×14+7-day interval with two cycles, orally; BJO: 1 g/kg, qd×6 weeks, orally). Body weight was determined every week. Six weeks after initial treatment, tumors were collected for analysis of angiogenesis using immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS

The combination of anlotinib and BJO significantly inhibited growth of SCLC liver metastases and angiogenesis more than anlotinib monotherapy (p=0.043). In addition, BJO alleviated body-weight loss associated with anlotinib therapy, including general mouse condition.

CONCLUSION

The results of the present study indicate that the combination of anlotinib with BJO is promisingly active against liver metastases of SCLC, and has clinical potential.

Lack of association between the FAS/FASL polymorphisms and cervical cancer risk: A meta-analysis

FAS/FASL gene promoter polymorphisms are associated with cervical cancer risk, however, results from previous studies have been conflicting. To obtain a more precise estimation of the association between these polymorphisms and cancer risk, a meta-analysis was performed. All eligible studies up to November 1st, 2012, concerning FAS-670 A/G, FAS-1377 G/A and FASL-844 T/C polymorphisms and cervical cancer risk, were collected from the following electronic databases: PubMed, Excerpta Medica Database and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were used to assess the strength of the association via the additive, codominant, dominant and recessive models. In total, 10 publications with 11 case-control studies (10 on FAS-670 A/G, 5 on FAS-1377 G/A and 6 on FASL-844 T/C polymorphisms) were included in this meta-analysis. No association between FAS-670 A/G, FAS-1377 G/A and FASL-844 T/C polymorphisms and cervical cancer susceptibility for all the genetic models was identified. Following stratification of the studies by ethnicity or source of controls, similar results were obtained. In conclusion, our findings showed that the FAS-670 A/G, FAS-1377 G/A and FASL-844 T/C polymorphisms are not associated with cervical cancer risk. Future studies with larger sample sizes are required to further evaluate these associations.