WANG Xiaoyan, LI Gang, KONG Fanli, HE Zhijie, TAN Zhongyu
Water extract of artificially cultivated Pholiota adiposa (WPA) was prepared and analyzed for nutritional components. An H22 tumor-bearing mouse model (MC) was established, along with a blank control group (NC, saline by gavage), a positive control group (PC, 25 mg·kg-1 cyclophosphamide), low-dose WPA group (L-WPA, 100 mg·kg-1), medium-dose WPA group (M-WPA, 200 mg·kg-1) and high-dose WPA group (H-WPA, 300 mg·kg-1). After 15 consecutive days of treatment, mice in different groups were measured for tumor suppression rate, organ indices, and contents of IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-6, TNF-α, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in mouse serum by ELISA. Tumor tissues were observed by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, and determined for tumor cell apoptosis by TUNEL assay. The expression of proteins associated with tumor apoptosis, i.e., BAX, Bcl-2, caspase-3, cleaved caspase-3 and VEGF, was determined by immunohistochemistry and Western blot. The results showed that compared with MC, the thymus index and spleen index of M-WPA and H-WPA were significantly increased, the tumor mass of WPA treated mice were extremely significantly decreased, the contents of IL-2, IFN-γ and TNF-α in all WPA groups were significantly increased, and the contents of IL-6, VEGF, AST and BUN in all WPA groups were significantly decreased. Regardless of dose, the tumor apoptosis rates of all WPA groups significantly increased compared with MC. WPA also resulted in significant increases in the expression of BAX, caspase-3, cleaved caspase-3, and significant decreases in the expression of Bcl-2 and VEGF. These results provided a reference for the development and utilization of P. adiposa.