He Xiaolong, Gao Qi, Qiang Yayong, Guo Wei, Ma Yadong
Department of Urology, Yan'an University Affiliated Hospital, Yan'an, Shaanxi 716000, P.R. China.
Oncol Lett. 2017 Jun;13(6):4905-4910. doi: 10.3892/ol.2017.6086. Epub 2017 Apr 24.
Cucurbitacin E is an important member of the cucurbitacin family and exhibits inhibitory effects in various types of cancer. Cucurbitacin is a potential antineoplastic drug; however, its anticancer effect in human prostate cancer (PC) remains unknown. The aim of the present study was to determine whether the effect of cucurbitacin E on the cell viability and apoptosis of the human PC cell line, LNCaP, was mediated by cofilin-1- and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). The results of the present study demonstrated that cucurbitacin E significantly exhibited cytotoxicity, suppressed cell viability (P<0.0001) and induced apoptosis (P=0.0082) in LNCaP cells. In addition, it was demonstrated that treatment with cucurbitacin E significantly induced cofilin-1 (P=0.0031), p-mTOR (P=0.0022), AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK; P=0.0048), cellular tumor antigen p53 (p53; P=0.0018) and caspase-9 (P=0.0026) protein expression in LNCaP cells, suggesting that cucurbitacin E exerts its effects on LNCaP cells through cofilin-1, mTOR, AMPK, p53 and caspase-9 signaling. These results suggested that cucurbitacin E maybe used as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of human PC.
葫芦素E是葫芦素家族的重要成员，对多种癌症具有抑制作用。葫芦素是一种潜在的抗肿瘤药物；然而，其对人前列腺癌（PC）的抗癌作用尚不清楚。本研究的目的是确定葫芦素E对人PC细胞系LNCaP的细胞活力和凋亡的影响是否由丝切蛋白-1和雷帕霉素哺乳动物靶蛋白（mTOR）介导。本研究结果表明，葫芦素E在LNCaP细胞中显著表现出细胞毒性，抑制细胞活力（P<0.0001）并诱导凋亡（P=0.0082）。此外，结果表明，用葫芦素E处理可显著诱导LNCaP细胞中丝切蛋白-1（P=0.0031）、磷酸化mTOR（p-mTOR；P=0.0022）、AMP活化蛋白激酶（AMPK；P=0.0048）、细胞肿瘤抗原p53（p53；P=0.0018）和半胱天冬酶-9（P=0.0026）的蛋白表达，提示葫芦素E通过丝切蛋白-1、mTOR、AMPK、p53和半胱天冬酶-9信号通路对LNCaP细胞发挥作用。这些结果表明，葫芦素E可能用作治疗人PC的治疗剂。
