Effect and Mechanism of Specnuezhenide on Chemotherapy-induced Myelosuppression

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic effect of Specnuezhenide on myelosuppression induced by chemotherapy and clarify its mechanism.

Methods: In this study, we measured peripheral blood cells, thymus index, spleen index, bone marrow nucleated cells (BMNCs), and the number of cell colonies counted in vitro by hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) to determine the effect of SPN on cyclophosphamide (CTX)-induced myelosuppression. The alterations in the expression of relevant proteins, the cell cycle, and cytokines associated with hematopoietic cells were examined to better understand how it works.

Results: In the cyclophosphamide-induced mouse model, our study discovered that SPN can increase the number of peripheral blood cells and BMNCs after treatment, increase the thymus index and decrease the spleen index, and promote the proliferation and differentiation of HPCs. SPN can improve the production of cultured colonies in vitro, reduce the level of hematopoietic factors in vivo, regulate the proportion of G0/G1 phase cells, and promote the normal growth and development of cells. SPN can increase the expression levels of key proteins MEK and p-ERK in the MAPK signaling pathway, which may be one of the important mechanisms for improving myelosuppression.

Conclusion: SPN can enhance the hematological and immunological functions of myelosuppressionmice, and it is hypothesized that SPN is extremely helpful to the hematopoietic and immune functions of tumor patients following chemotherapy. SPN might be used to treat myelosuppression. Additionally, high doses of SPN have a stronger therapeutic effect than low levels of SPN.

Keywords: Specnuezhenide; bone marrow; chemotherapy; cyclophosphamide; ligustrum lucidum; myelosuppression.