Weichang’an and 5-fluorouracil suppresses colorectal cancer in a mouse model

Table 1 Weight and size of orthotopic tumors in nude mice and tumor inhibition rates resulting from drug treatments

Group	n	Weight (g)	Size (mm3)	Tumor inhibition
CON	11	1.804 ± 0.649	2180.259 ± 816.556	-
WCA	10	1.459 ± 0.431	1616.795 ± 566.260	19.087%
5-FU	11	1.203 ± 0.284b	1695.657 ± 656.594	33.298%
WCA + 5-FU	10	1.140 ± 0.464b	1493.438 ± 740.906a	36.802%

^aP < 0.05 vs CON;

^bP < 0.01 vs CON. WCA: Weichang’an; 5-FU: 5-fluorouracil; CON: Control.

Table 2 Cancer metastases in nude mice implanted with tumors formed from HCT-116 cell injection

Group	Mice survived, n	Hepatic metastases	Abdominal wall metastases	Mesenteric metastases	Splenic metastasis	Renal metastasis	Gross metastatic rate	Hepatic metastasis rate
CON	11	5	4	2	0	0	100%	45.45%
WCA	10	3	2	0	0	0	50%a	30%
5-FU	11	4	2	1	1	0	72.72%	36.36%
WCA + 5-FU	10	3	0	0	0	1	40%b	30%

^aP < 0.05 vs CON;

^bP < 0.01 vs CON. WCA: Weichang’an; 5-FU: 5-fluorouracil; CON: Control.

Table 3 β-catenin and matrix metalloproteinase-7 mRNA levels in orthotopic and hepatic metastatic tumors in the transplant model

Group	β-catenin				MMP-7
	Orthotopic tumors		Hepatic metastatic tumors		Orthotopic tumors		Hepatic metastatic tumors
	n	Relative expression	n	Relative expression1	n	Relative expression	n	Relative expression2
CON	11	0.809 ± 0.354	5	20.588 ± 13.595	11	5.688 ± 3.255	5	1.211 ± 0.593
WCA	10	0.271 ± 0.173b	3	3.679 ± 3.271	10	2.236 ± 1.528a	3	0.030 ± 0.025b
5-FU	11	0.513 ± 0.261a	4	4.559 ± 5.491	11	2.427 ± 2.111	4	0.061 ± 0.021
WCA + 5-FU	10	0.445 ± 0.325b	3	5.788 ± 2.029	10	0.918 ± 1.011b	3	0.044 ± 0.019a

¹β-catenin mRNA expression levels in hepatic metastatic tumors were presented as mean ± SD and nonparametric tests (Kruskal-Wallis tests) were performed, P = 0.155;

²Matrix metalloproteinase-7 (MMP-7) mRNA expression levels in hepatic metastatic tumors were presented as mean ± SD and nonparametric tests (Kruskal-Wallis tests) were performed, P = 0.012.

^aP < 0.05 vs CON;

^bP < 0.01 vs CON. WCA: Weichang’an; 5-FU: 5-fluorouracil; CON: Control.