Daikenchuto, a traditional Japanese Kampo medicine, suppresses colonic tumorigenesis associated with chronic colitis in mice

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K15408
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: General internal medicine(including psychosomatic medicine)
• Research Institution: University of Toyama
• Principal Investigator: Kadowaki Makoto 富山大学, 和漢医薬学総合研究所, 教授 (20305709)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 大建中湯 / 急性大腸炎 / 疾病前状態の予測 / 数理解析 / 経時的全遺伝子発現解析

Outline of Final Research Achievements

One approach is to focus on the pre-disease state before the development of acute colitis and colitis-associated cancer (CAC). In this study, we investigated time-course gene expression profiles of a mouse model of DSS-induced acute colitis using whole-genome microarrays. We found that 238 genes exhibited elevated fluctuations in a coordinated manner, which was a pre-disease state-specific phenomenon predicted by the dynamical network biomarker (DNB) theory and occurred two days earlier than the onset of the acute colitis. Furthermore, Daikenchuto suppressed the acute colitis and CAC in the mouse models. These 238 genes are related to NK cells which have never been investigated on acute colitis. In addition, the depletion of NK cells with anti-asialo GM1 antibodies ameliorated the acute colitis. Taken together, Daikenchuto treatment has a potential of novel therapeutic strategies targeting the pre-disease state before the development of acute colitis and CAC.

Free Research Field

漢方薬理学