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©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Sep 26, 2025; 17(9): 107025
Published online Sep 26, 2025. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v17.i9.107025
Published online Sep 26, 2025. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v17.i9.107025
Wumei Pills enhance intestinal stem cell - mediated repair in chemotherapy-induced mucositis via Lactobacillus reuteri - dependent modulation of the gut microbiota
Dong-Xue Lu, Hua Wu, Department of Nutrition, Acupuncture and Moxibustion and Massage College & Health Preservation and Rehabilitation College, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, Jiangsu Province, China
Zi-Xuan Wang, Department of Oncology, Nanjing Jinling Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, 210008, Jiangsu Province, China
Xi-Min Liu, Department of Prevention and Treatment of Disease, Changzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Changzhou 213003, Jiangsu Province, China
Li-Jiang Ji, Department of Anorectal Surgery, Changshu Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Changshu 215500, Jiangsu Province, China
Jing Yan, Key Laboratory for Metabolic Diseases in Chinese Medicine, The First Clinical Medical College, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, Jiangsu Province, China
Co-first authors: Dong-Xue Lu and Zi-Xuan Wang.
Co-corresponding authors: Li-Jiang Ji and Jing Yan.
Author contributions: Lu DX and Wang ZX designed the study; Liu XM and Wu H collected and analyzed the data; Ji LJ and Yan J processed the data and created the figures and are co-corresponding authors; Lu DX wrote the manuscript; Lu DX and Wang ZX contributed equally to this manuscript and are co-first authors. Yan J will be designated as the one person who takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal during the manuscript submission, peer review, and publication processes. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by the Natural Science Research Project of Higher Education Institutions in Jiangsu Province, No. 23KJB360013; China and Jiangsu Province Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Development Program, No. MS2023001; and Guiding Project of Changshu Science and Technology Development Plan, No. CSWS202411.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: The study was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine (Approval No. 202409A097).
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Data sharing statement: There is no data available.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jing Yan, PhD, Adjunct Associate Professor, Key Laboratory for Metabolic Diseases in Chinese Medicine, The First Clinical Medical College, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, No. 138 Xianlin Avenue, Qixia District, Nanjing 210023, Jiangsu Province, China. yanjing@njucm.edu.cn
Received: March 17, 2025
Revised: May 10, 2025
Accepted: August 25, 2025
Published online: September 26, 2025
Processing time: 195 Days and 1.8 Hours
Revised: May 10, 2025
Accepted: August 25, 2025
Published online: September 26, 2025
Processing time: 195 Days and 1.8 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: In this study, we established a 5-fluorouracil induced intestinal mucositis mouse model, and found that intestinal flora is an important mechanism causing chemotherapy-induced intestinal mucositis. Lactobacillus reuteri colonized in the intestinal mucosa and Wumei Pills ameliorated intestinal mucosa damage caused by 5-fluorouracil treatment, including improvement of body weight, pathological change, and proliferation level, reducement proinflammatory cytokine secretion (tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6) and the lipopolysaccharides concentration. The repair process stimulated were also accompanied with increased leucine-rich-repeat-containing G-protein-coupled receptor 5 (+) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen. Furthermore, Wumei Pills and Lactobacillus reuteri activated the Wingless-type/β-catenin pathway to accelerate proliferation of intestinal epithelial, thus recovering damaged intestinal mucosa.