Xiao-Chai-Hu-Tang ameliorates tumor growth in cancer comorbid depressive symptoms via modulating gut microbiota-mediated TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway

Background Depressive symptoms are thought to promote cancer development and depressive remission has been reported to be effective for defeating cancer. The herbal formula Xiao-Chai-Hu-Tang (XCHT), that has an anti-depressive efficacy, has been widely utilized in China. However, its anti-cancer effect and underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Purpose The present study aims to investigate the effects of XCHT on the depression-associated tumor and its potential mechanisms. Methods A placebo-controlled trial was conducted in cancer patients comorbid with depressive symptoms to evaluate the effects of XCHT on depressive scales, tumor-related immune indicators, and gut microbial composition. A xenografted colorectal cancer (CRC) mouse model exposure to chronic restraint stress (CRS) was established to examine XCHT effects on tumorigenesis in vivo. Further, by manipulating gut bacteria with fecal microbial transplantation (FMT) or antibiotics-induced bacterial elimination in CRS-associated xenografted model, gut microbiota-mediated anti-tumor mechanism was explored. Results In cancer patients comorbid with depressive symptoms, XCHT showed substantial effects on improvement of depressive scales, system inflammatory levels and gut dysbiosis. In vivo, XCHT inhibited tumor growth and prolonged survival time in addition to showing anti-depressive effect. Similarly, in our clinical trial, XCHT partially reversed gut dysbiosis, particularly through reducing abundances of Parabacteroides, Blautia and Ruminococcaceae bacterium. Manipulation of gut bacteria in CRS-associated xenografted model further proved that the inhibition of XCHT on tumor progression was mediated by gut microbiota and that the underlying mechanism involves in downregulation of TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling. Conclusions We demonstrated that gut microbiota mediates the anti-tumor action of the formula XCHT in cancer patients and models that were comorbid with depressive symptoms. This study implies a novel clinical significance of anti-depressive herbal medicine in the cancer treatment and clarifies the important role of gut microbiota in treating cancer accompanied by depressive symptoms.