Antitumor activity of a whey peptide-based enteral diet in C26 colon tumor-bearing mice

The antitumor effects of a whey peptide-based enteral diet, whose main components are whey peptides and yogurt fermented by Lactobacillus delbureckii subsp. bulgaricus 2038 and Streptococcus thermophilus 1131, were investigated in mice. Our results indicated that the tumor weight in C26 carcinoma-transplanted mice was significantly smaller at day 16 post-implantation in the whey peptide-based enteral diet group (1.36 ± 0.54 g) than in the control group (1.83 ± 0.89 g) (p < 0.05). The whey peptide-based enteral diet group exhibited higher tumor cell apoptosis, lower cell proliferation, and inactive angiogenesis indicating by higher degree of TUNEL, lower positive rates of Ki-67, VEGF, and CD34 than control group. It also attenuated inflammatory cell infiltration of spleen and liver as indicated by the decreased spleen index (10.89 ± 2.06 vs. 12.85 ± 2.92, p < 0.05) and increased liver index (58.09 ± 11.37 vs. 53.19 ± 6.67, p < 0.05) in the whey peptide-based enteral diet group than the control diet group. These results proved the inhibitory effect of the whey peptide-based enteral diet on tumor growth, which might be attributed to the whey peptides component. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: A whey peptide-based enteral diet (MEIN^® ), containing cheese whey and multiple nutrients, was selected to verify the anti-tumor effect by animal experiments. The tumor weight growth, tumor cell proliferation, inflammatory cell infiltration of spleen and liver in tumor model mice was significantly attenuated by the whey peptide-based enteral diet, that might be attributed to its whey peptides component. These results provided an additive direction for cancer therapy and need a further study including clinical trials.