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Abstract
Radiation-induced enteritis is frequently observed following radiotherapy for cancer or occurs due to radiation exposure in a nuclear accident. The loss of the epithelial integrity leads to 'leaky gut', so recovery of damaged epithelium is an important strategy in therapeutic trials. Centella asiatica (CA), a traditional herbal medicine, is widely used for wound healing by protecting against endothelial damage. In this study, we investigated the radio-mitigating effect of CA, focusing on the crosstalk between endothelial and epithelial cells. CA treatment relieved radiation-induced endothelial dysfunction and mitigated radiation-induced enteritis. In particular, treatment of the conditioned media from CA-treated irradiated endothelial cells recovered radiation-induced epithelial barrier damage. We also determined that epidermal growth factor (EGF) is a critical factor secreted by CA-treated irradiated endothelial cells. Treatment with EGF effectively improved the radiation-induced epithelial barrier dysfunction. We also identified the therapeutic effects of CA-induced endothelial paracrine in a radiation-induced enteritis mouse model with epithelial barrier restoration. Otherwise, CA treatment did not show radioprotective effects on colorectal tumors in vivo. We showed therapeutic effects of CA on radiation-induced enteritis, with the recovery of endothelial and epithelial dysfunction. Thus, our findings suggest that CA is an effective radio-mitigator against radiation-induced enteritis.

Affiliations

Seo Young Kwak  1 , Won Il Jang  1 , Seung Bum Lee  1 , Min-Jung Kim  1 , Sunhoo Park  1 , Sang Sik Cho  1   2 , Hyewon Kim  1 , Sun-Joo Lee  1 , Sehwan Shim  1 , Hyosun Jang  1
1 Laboratory of Radiation Exposure & Therapeutics, National Radiation Emergency Medical Center, Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences, Seoul 01812, Korea.
2 Department of Surgery, Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences, Seoul 01812, Korea.