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Effect of combined treatment with recombinant interleukin-2 and allicin on pancreatic cancer

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Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of combined treatment with recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2) and allicin on pancreatic cancer and explore the potential immunological mechanism. A total of 60 C57/BL6 nude mice pancreatic cancer xenograft models were randomized into four groups of 15 mice per group: control group, allicin treatment group, rIL-2 treatment group, combined treatment with allicin and rIL-2 group. Mice in each group were treated with saline, rIL-2, allicin, or combination of rIL-2 and allicin by weekly i.v injection for four weeks. After four weeks of treatment, eyeballs of the mice were extracted and blood was drawn, percentages of CD4+T, CD8+T and NK cell were analyzed by FACS, IFN-γ level was detected by ELISA. One mouse in each group was sacrificed to measure the weight and volume of the tumor and prepared to the paraffin section of tumor tissue. Apoptosis of the tumor cells was analyzed by TUNEL and FACS. Other mice continued to receive treatment, survival period were compared between each group. We observed a significant suppression of xenograft growth and a significant prolonged survival time in the combined treatment with allicin and rIL-2 group (P < 0.05). The most amount of apoptotic cells were observed in the combined therapy group (P < 0.05). The percentages of CD4+T, CD8+T and NK cell and serum IFN-γ level increased significantly in the combined treatment group compared with other groups (P < 0.05). Combined treatment with allicin and rIL-2 resulted in suppression of tumor growth and prolonged survival time possibly through activation of CD4+T, CD8+T and NK cell.

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Acknowledgments

This project is supported by Grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.30872510; 81200320; 81272534 and 81260349) the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (No. 2008CDB127), and the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (No. 064119620 10411968400).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards

All human studies have been approved by the appropriate ethics committee and have therefore been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki. All persons gave their informed consent prior to their inclusion in the study.

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Correspondence to Rong-Hua Xu or Hui Zhang.

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Cong-Jun Wang and Jiang Han are co-first authors.

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Wang, CJ., Wang, C., Han, J. et al. Effect of combined treatment with recombinant interleukin-2 and allicin on pancreatic cancer. Mol Biol Rep 40, 6579–6585 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-013-2766-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-013-2766-1

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