A TCM Formula YYWY Inhibits Tumor Growth in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Through Facilitating the Maturation of Dendritic Cells

In worldwide, lung cancer has a major socio-economic impact and is one of the most common cause of cancer-related deaths. Current therapies for lung cancer are still quite unsatisfactory, urging for alternative new treatments. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is currently increasingly popular and exhibits a complicated intervention in the cancers therapy. In this work, we evaluated the anti-tumor effect and explored the mechanism of a TCM formula Yangyinwenyang (YYWY) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) models. In Lewis NSCLC-bearing mice, YYWY significantly inhibited the tumor growth. Further RNA-seq analysis and immunostaing of the tumor tissue implied a vital role of immune response, especially the dendritic cells (DCs) in the effect of YYWY. Therefore, we focused on DCs, which are initiator and modulator of the immune response. YYWY facilitated the maturation of DCs and promoted the release of the cytokines IFN-?, interleukin (IL)-1ß, IL-10, IL-12, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-a by DCs. Moreover, the YYWY-matured DCs enhanced the proliferation of T cells and promoted the differentiation of T cells into T helper Th1 and cytotoxic T cell (CTL) through MAPK and NF-?B signalling to exert a significant cytotoxicity on Lewis lung cancer cells. Collectively, our findings clearly suggested that YYWY exerted anti-tumor effect on NSCLC at least partially through facilitating the maturation DCs to activate the proliferation and differentiation of T cells.