Huaier suppresses pancreatic cancer progression via activating cell autophagy induced ferroptosis

Long-term oral administration of Huaier granules improves survival outcomes in hepatocellular carcinoma patients within Milan criteria following microwave ablation: a propensity score matching and stabilized inverse probability weighting analysis

Objective

This study aimed to elucidate the therapeutic effects of Huaier granules on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) within the Milan criteria in patients who underwent microwave ablation (MWA).

Materials and methods

A total of 228 patients were included, with 97 in the Huaier group and 131 in the control group. We evaluated progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and extrahepatic metastasis survival (EMS) using Kaplan-Meier (KM) curves with a log-rank test. Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and Stabilized Inverse Probability of Treatment Weighting (IPTW) were performed to minimize selection and confounding biases.

Results

Following PSM, the 1-, 3-, and 5-year PFS rates in the Huaier and control groups were 83.5% vs 70.7%, 57.7% vs 42.6%, and 43.6% vs 31.9% (p = 0.030), respectively. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS rates were 98.9% vs 95.6%, 83.9% vs 72.3%, and 72.2% vs 53.7% (p = 0.023), respectively. The corresponding 1-, 3-, and 5-year EMS rates were 98.9% vs 93.4%, 91.7% vs 83.7%, and 91.7% vs 78.5% (p = 0.039), respectively. Stabilized IPTW analysis of KM curves yielded results similar to those of the PSM analysis. Additionally, administering Huaier granules for at least 6 months significantly improved PFS and OS.

Conclusion

Huaier granules can reduce the risk of recurrence and improve the OS of patients with HCC within the Milan criteria following MWA. Administering Huaier granules for over 6 months proved beneficial.

Huaier Polysaccharide Alleviates Dextran Sulphate Sodium Salt-Induced Colitis by Inhibiting Inflammation and Oxidative Stress, Maintaining the Intestinal Barrier, and Modulating Gut Microbiota

The incidence of ulcerative colitis (UC) is increasing annually, and UC has a serious impact on patients' lives. Polysaccharides have gained attention as potential drug candidates for treating ulcerative colitis (UC) in recent years. Huaier (Trametes robiniophila Murr) is a fungus that has been used clinically for more than 1000 years, and its bioactive polysaccharide components have been reported to possess immunomodulatory effects, antitumour potential, and renoprotective effects. In this study, we aimed to examine the protective effects and mechanisms of Huaier polysaccharide (HP) against UC. Based on the H2O2-induced oxidative stress model in HT-29 cells and the dextran sulphate sodium salt (DSS)-induced UC model, we demonstrated that Huaier polysaccharides significantly alleviated DSS-induced colitis (weight loss, elevated disease activity index (DAI) scores, and colonic shortening). In addition, HP inhibited oxidative stress and inflammation and alleviated DSS-induced intestinal barrier damage. It also significantly promoted the expression of the mucin Muc2. Furthermore, HP reduced the abundance of harmful bacteria Escherichia-Shigella and promoted the abundance of beneficial bacteria Muribaculaceae_unclassified, Anaerotruncus, and Ruminococcaceae_unclassified to regulate the intestinal flora disturbance caused by DSS. Nontargeted metabolomics revealed that HP intervention would modulate metabolism by promoting levels of 3-hydroxybutyric acid, phosphatidylcholine (PC), and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE). These results demonstrated that HP had the ability to mitigate DSS-induced UC by suppressing oxidative stress and inflammation, maintaining the intestinal barrier, and modulating the intestinal flora. These findings will expand our knowledge of how HP functions and offer a theoretical foundation for using HP as a potential prebiotic to prevent UC.

Effect of Huaier granule on prognosis of breast cancer: A single-center propensity score matching retrospective study

BACKGROUND

Huaier granule is an important medicinal fungus extract widely used in cancer treatment. Previous retrospective studies have reported its effectiveness in breast cancer patients, but the imbalanced baseline characteristics of participants could have biased the results. Therefore, this retrospective study aimed to examine the efficacy of Huaier granule on the prognosis of breast cancer patients.

METHODS

In this single-center cohort study, breast cancer patients diagnosed and treated at the Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine between 2009 and 2017 were selected. The data were retrospectively analyzed and divided into two groups according to whether the patients received Huaier granules. The propensity score matching (PSM) method was used to eliminate selection bias. The disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) for these groups were compared using the Kaplan-Meier method and the Cox regression.

RESULTS

This study included 214 early invasive breast cancer patients, 107 in the Huaier group and 107 in the control group. In the Kaplan-Meier analysis, the 2-year and 5-year DFS rates were significantly different in the Huaier group and control group (hazard ratio [HR], 0.495; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.257-0.953; P = 0.023). The 2-year and 5-year OS rates were also significantly different (HR, 0.308; 95% CI, 0.148-0.644; P = 0.001). On multivariable Cox regression, Huaier granule was associated with improved DFS (HR, 0.440; 95% CI, 0.223-0.868; P = 0.018) and OS (HR, 0.236; 95% CI, 0.103-0.540; P = 0.001).

CONCLUSION

In this retrospective study, Huaier granules improved the DFS and OS of early invasive breast cancer patients, providing real-world evidence for further prospective studies on treating breast cancer with Huaier granules.

Molecular mechanisms and therapeutic applications of huaier in breast cancer treatment

Breast cancer is one of the most common female malignant tumors today and represents a serious health risk for women. Although the survival rate and quality of life of patients with breast cancer are improving with the continuous development of medical technology, metastasis, recurrence, and drug resistance of breast cancer remain a significant problem. Huaier, a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) fungus, is a type of Sophora embolism fungus growing on old Sophora stems. The polysaccharides of Trametes robiniophila Murr (PS-T) are the main active ingredient of Huaier. There is increasing evidence that Huaier has great potential in breast cancer treatment, and its anti-cancer mechanism may be related to a variety of biological activities, such as the inhibition of cell proliferation, metastasis, tumor angiogenesis, the promotion of cancer cell death, and regulation of tumor-specific immunity. There is growing evidence that Huaier may be effective in the clinical treatment of breast cancer. This review systematically summarizes the basic and clinical studies on the use of Huaier in the treatment of breast cancer, providing useful information to guide the clinical application of Huaier and future clinical studies.

Huaier suppresses cell viability, migration and invasion in human non-small cell lung cancer via lncRNA DLEU2/miR-212-5p/ELF3 axis

Accumulating studies suggest that Huaier exerts anti-tumor effects through intricate mechanisms. Despite extensive research on its efficacy in lung cancer, further investigation is required to elucidate the molecular mechanism of Huaier. The involvement of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the anti-lung cancer effects of Huaier remains unknown. In this study, we found Huaier suppressed cell viability, migration and invasion in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells. LncRNA sequencing analysis revealed Deleted in lymphocytic leukemia 2 (DLEU2) to be significantly downregulated in Huaier-treated NSCLC cells. Furthermore, DLEU2 silencing was observed to suppress NSCLC progression, while DLEU2 overexpression attenuated the anti-tumor effects of Huaier in NSCLC, thereby promoting cell viability, migration and invasion of NSCLC. The ceRNA role of DLEU2 had been demonstrated in NSCLC, which directly interacted with miR-212-5p to rescue the repression of E74 Like ETS Transcription Factor 3 (ELF3) by this microRNA. Additionally, Huaier was found to regulate the expression of miR-212-5p and ELF3. Functionally, miR-212-5p inhibitor or ELF3 overexpression reversed the effects of DLEU2 silencing or Huaier treatment, resulting in increased colony formation, migration and invasion in NSCLC. Taken together, these results illuminate the mechanism underlying Huaier's anti-tumor effects via the DLEU2/miR-212-5p/ELF3 signaling pathway, which offers novel insights into the anti-tumor effects of Huaier and constitutes a promising therapeutic target for the treatment in NSCLC.