Abstract 4010: Tonggyu-tang, a traditional Korean medicine, suppresses inflammation, potential implications in tumor microenvironment

Abstract

The critical roles of inflammation in the development of cancer have long been appreciated. A growing body of evidence supports the notion that infiltrates of inflammatory cells into tumor microenvironment influence the tumor progression by providing bioactive molecules including pro-inflammatory cytokines. Importantly, the increased number of mast cells within tumor microenvironment has been associated with a poor survival in cancer patients. Moreover, keratinocyte inflammation is known to be crucial for skin tumor development. The use of natural products to reduce inflammation in tumor microenvironment is gaining an interest, because of their reduced toxicity toward normal cells. In this study, we tested the effects of Tonggyu-tang (TGT) which is composed of 14 different herbal extracts on the activity of mast cells. We found that TGT significantly reduced the expression and production of inflammatory cytokines such as IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α in PMA and ionomycin- stimulated HMC-1 (human mast cell line-1). In an attempt to determine molecular mechanism underlying the inhibitory effects of TGT on cytokine expression, we revealed that TGT suppressed MAPK signaling pathway including ERK, p38, and JNK as well as NF-κB pathway, which are known to regulate inflammatory cytokine expression. Similar results were obtained from the LPS-stimulated HaCaT cells, immortalized human keratinocytes. Taken together, our results demonstrate that TGT suppresses inflammation by inhibiting the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine in both mast cells and keratinocytes, thereby potentially leading to inhibition of tumor progression. Citation Format: Hyoin Kim, Seong-Gyu Ko, Yong Cheol Shin, Ji Hye Kim, Hye-Sook Seo, Tai Young Kim, Se Hyang Hong, Kangwook Lee, Jin Mo Ku, Myeong-Sun Kim, Yu-Jeong Choi, Soo-yeon Kang, Chunhoo Cheon, Youme Ko, Huang Ching Wen, Yui Sasaki, Sohyeon Kang. Tonggyu-tang, a traditional Korean medicine, suppresses inflammation, potential implications in tumor microenvironment [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4010. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-4010