Integrated non-targeted metabolomics and gut microbial systematic analysis the mechanism of anti-tumour activity of Poriae Cutis-derived lanostane triterpenes in vivo

Publication Date

3-1-2025

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Food Bioscience

Volume

65

DOI

10.1016/j.fbio.2025.105978

Abstract

Poria cocos, as a traditional medicinal and edible resource, contains a large number of lanostane tetracyclic triterpenes in its epidermis, of which the most abundant ones are poricoic acid A (PAA) and poricoic acid B (PAB). Numerous studies suggest that terpenoids have antitumor efficacy against a range of malignancies, but the systemic effects of triterpenes in Poriae Cutis in vivo have not been clarified. We compared the therapeutic effects as well as the safety of Poria triterpene mixtures, PAA and PAB in H22 tumor-bearing mice. The results revealed that both mixtures and triterpene monomers inhibited tumor development in vivo, but PAA showed a greater effect than the triterpene mixtures. The single compounds and mixtures were non-toxic to the organs, and to some extent promoted immune organ action and ameliorated intestinal morphological damage. Gut microbiology and metabolomics were further combined to provide a systematic perspective on the anti-tumor mechanism of PAA. After PAA intervention, the concentrations of small molecule metabolites in purine metabolism, sphingolipid metabolism and gluconeogenic pathways were strongly correlated with the abundance of Bacteroides and Firmicutes in the intestine, inducing apoptosis in cancer cells and protecting intestinal health. These findings provide new evidence to support that Poria triterpenes adjuvant cancer therapy in vivo and positively mitigate intestinal bacterial and hepatorenal toxicity.

Keywords

Gut microbiota, H22 tumor-bearing mice, Metabolomics, Tetracyclic triterpenes

Department

Nutrition, Food Science and Packaging

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