In vivo tumor xenograft model

A total of 10 male nude mice (BALB/c nu/nu; age, 5 weeks) were purchased from Shanghai SLAC Laboratory Animal Co., Ltd. (Shanghai, China). The initial body weight of all nude mice was ~18 g. Nude mice were bred in specific pathogen-free (SPF) conditions at the Laboratory Animals Breeding and Research Centre, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Shanghai, China). The housing conditions for mice were as follows: Room temperature, 20-26°C and 12-h light/dark cycle. The mice received 5 g food and 100 ml water per 100 g body weight per day. Two million HCT116 cells in 0.1 ml PBS were injected into subcutaneous tissues of each mouse. After 2 weeks, mice were weighed and randomly divided into control group and α-hederin group (n=5/group). α-Hederin group mice were injected intraperitoneally with α-hederin (2 mg/kg body weight) and the control group were injected intraperitoneally with the same volume of PBS (control) every 3 days for 3 weeks. Finally, the tumor-bearing mice were sacrificed and the tumors were excised and weighed. The protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Shuguang Hospital affiliated with Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.