Quxie capsule inhibits the colon tumor growth through modulating the gut microbiome and tumor myosin 11 expression

Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine formula, such as the Quxie Capsule (QXC), has been used for advanced colorectal cancer treatment with favorable clinical outcome at Xiyuan Hospital in Beijing, China. However, the mechanism(s) underlying the anticancer effect of QXC in colon cancer still remain unclear, which hampers its optimal use for the treatment of colon cancer. The purpose of this study is to examine whether, and if yes, how QXC exerts anti-tumor activity via alteration of gut microbiota and related pathways. The antitumor efficacy of QXC was tested in CT-26 syngeneic mouse colon cancer models. Gut microbiome was measured by 16sRNA sequencing in fecal samples. Signaling protein expression profile in tumor tissues was assessed by RPPA and validated by Western blot. QXC gavaged to mice carrying CT26 tumors for 2 weeks significantly reduced the average tumor weight (0.92 ± 0.15g) compared to that of the vehicle control (1.57 ± 0.1689, p 0.05). Mice pretreated with vehicle for 12 days then transplanted with fecal from QXC treated mice had smaller tumor compared with vehicle only group (p 0.05). The result of 16sRNA sequencing showed that the ratio of Firmicutes over Bacteriodetes (F/B) was decreased by 2.03 folds in tumor-bearing mice compared to non-tumor-bearing mice (p Citation Format: Dongmei Chen, Daoyuan Wei, Yufei Yang, Peiying Yang. Quxie capsule inhibits the colon tumor growth through modulating the gut microbiome and tumor myosin 11 expression [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1859.