Cancer cachexia is a multifactorial metabolic syndrome that affects ∼50%-80% of cancer patients, and no effective therapy for cancer cachexia is presently available. In traditional Chinese medicine, a large portion of patients with cancer cachexia was diagnosed as spleen deficiency syndrome and treated with tonifying TCMs that produce clinic benefits. In this study we established a new animal model of spleen deficiency and cancer cachexia in mice and evaluated the therapeutic effects of atractylenolide I, an active component of tonifying TCM BaiZhu, in the mouse model. Cancer cachexia was induced in male BALB/c mice by inoculation of mouse C26 colon adenocarcinoma cells, whereas spleen deficiency syndrome was induced by treating the mice with spleen deficiency-inducing factors, including limited feeding, fatigue, and purging. The mouse model was characterized by both cachexia and spleen deficiency characteristics, including significant body weight loss, cancer growth, muscle atrophy, fat lipolysis, spleen, and thymus atrophy as compared with healthy control mice, cancer cachexia mice, and spleen deficiency mice. Oral administration of atractylenolide I (20 mg· kg-1per day, for 30 days) significantly ameliorated the reduction in body weight and atrophy of muscle, fat, spleen, and thymus in mice with spleen deficiency and cachexia. The established model of spleen deficiency and cancer cachexia might be useful in the future for screening possible anticachexia TCMs and clarifying their mechanisms.

中文翻译：

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癌症恶病质脾虚证小鼠模型的建立及白术内酯Ⅰ的作用.

癌症恶病质是一种多因素代谢综合征，影响~50%-80%的癌症患者，目前还没有针对癌症恶病质的有效治疗方法。中医认为，大部分癌症恶病质患者被诊断为脾虚证，并采用补益中药进行治疗，从而产生临床疗效。在本研究中，我们建立了一种新的脾虚癌症恶病质小鼠模型，并评价了补益中药白术的活性成分白术内酯I在小鼠模型中的治疗效果。通过接种小鼠 C26 结肠腺癌细胞，在雄性 BALB/c 小鼠中诱导癌症恶病质，而通过对小鼠给予脾虚诱发因素（包括限制进食、疲劳和泻下）来诱导脾虚综合症。该小鼠模型同时具有恶病质和脾虚的特征，包括与健康对照小鼠、癌症恶病质小鼠和脾虚小鼠相比，体重明显减轻、癌症生长、肌肉萎缩、脂肪分解、脾脏和胸腺萎缩。口服白术内酯Ⅰ（每天20 mg·kg-1，连续30天）可显着改善脾虚恶病质小鼠的体重减轻和肌肉、脂肪、脾脏、胸腺萎缩。所建立的脾虚和癌症恶病质模型将来可能有助于筛选可能的抗恶病质中药并阐明其机制。