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Cunningham P, Sumal A, Patton E, Helms H, Noneman MT, Martinez-Muñiz G, Bader JE, Chatzistamou I, Aladhami A, Unger C, Enos RT, Shin HK, Velázquez KT. Ojeok-san ameliorates visceral and somatic nociception in a mouse model of colitis induced colorectal cancer. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0270338. [PMID: 35737651 PMCID: PMC9223640 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270338] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2022] [Accepted: 06/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Cancer patients can develop visceral, somatic, and neuropathic pain, largely due to the malignancy itself and its treatments. Often cancer patients and survivors turn to the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to alleviate pain and fatigue. Thus, it is necessary to investigate how CAM therapies work as novel analgesics to treat cancer pain. Ojeok-san (OJS) is an herbal formula consisting of seventeen herbs. This herbal formula has been shown to possess anti-inflammatory, immunoregulatory, and analgesic properties. In this study, we examined the potential beneficial effects and mechanism of action of OJS in a preclinical model of colitis-associated colorectal cancer. Male and female C57BL/6J mice were exposed to the carcinogen, azoxymethane (AOM, 10 mg/kg) and a chemical inflammatory driver, dextran sulfate sodium (DSS1-2%), to promote tumorigenesis in the colorectum. OJS was given orally (500, 1000, and 2000 mg/kg) to determine its influence on disease activity, tumor burden, nociception, sedation, Erk signaling, and behavioral and metabolic outcomes. In addition, in vitro studies were performed to assess CT-26 cell viability, dorsal root ganglia (DRG) activation, and bone-marrow-derived macrophage (BMDM) inflammatory response to lipopolysaccharide stimulation after OJS treatment. We found that administration of 2000 mg/kg of OJS was able to mitigate mechanical somatic and visceral nociception via Erk signaling without affecting symptom score and polyp number. Moreover, we discovered that OJS has sedative properties and elicits prolonged total sleeping time in AOM/DSS mice. Our in vitro experiments showed that OJS has the capacity to reduce TNFα gene expression in LPS-stimulated BMDM, but no changes were observed in DRG spike number and CT-26 cell proliferation. Taken together, these data suggest that OJS ameliorates nociception in mice and warrants further examination as a potential CAM therapy to promote analgesia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrice Cunningham
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America
| | - Aman Sumal
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America
| | - Emma Patton
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America
| | - Henry Helms
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America
| | - Matthew T. Noneman
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America
| | - Gustavo Martinez-Muñiz
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America
| | - Jackie E. Bader
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America
| | - Ioulia Chatzistamou
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America
| | - Ahmed Aladhami
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America
| | - Christian Unger
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America
| | - Reilly T. Enos
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America
| | - Hyeun Kyoo Shin
- Basic Herbal Medicine Research Group, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Kandy T. Velázquez
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America
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