Department of Drug Sciences, University of Catania, V.le A. Doria 6, 95125 Catania, Italy.
Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Section of Physiology, University of Catania, Via S. Sofia, 89, 95123 Catania, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2018 Jan 19;19(1):292. doi: 10.3390/ijms19010292.
Prostate cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in men, and research to find more effective and less toxic drugs has become necessary. In the frame of our ongoing program on traditionally used species from the Mediterranean Area, here we report the biological activities of , and essential oils against human prostate cancer cells (DU-145). The cell viability was measured by 3(4,5-dimethyl-thiazol-2-yl)2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) test and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release was used to quantify necrosis cell death. Genomic DNA, caspase-3 activity, expression of cleaved caspase-9, B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) and Bcl-2 associated X (Bax) proteins were analyzed in order to study the apoptotic process. The role of reactive oxygen species in cell death was also investigated. We found that the three essential oils, containing caryophyllene oxide as a main constituent, are capable of reducing the growth of human prostate cancer cells, activating an apoptotic process and increasing reactive oxygen species generation. These results suggest it could be profitable to further investigate the effects of these essential oils for their possible use as anticancer agents in prostate cancer, alone or in combination with chemotherapy agents.
前列腺癌是男性最常见的癌症之一，因此有必要研究出更有效、毒性更小的药物。在我们正在进行的地中海地区传统使用物种的研究计划中，我们报告了 、 和 精油对人前列腺癌细胞（DU-145）的生物活性。细胞活力通过 3(4,5-二甲基噻唑-2-基)2,5-二苯基四氮唑溴盐（MTT）试验进行测量，通过乳酸脱氢酶（LDH）释放来定量坏死细胞死亡。为了研究细胞凋亡过程，分析了基因组 DNA、半胱天冬氨酸蛋白酶-3 活性、裂解的胱天冬氨酸蛋白酶-9、B 细胞淋巴瘤 2（Bcl-2）和 Bcl-2 相关 X（Bax）蛋白的表达。还研究了活性氧在细胞死亡中的作用。我们发现，三种主要含有石竹烯氧化物的精油能够抑制人前列腺癌细胞的生长，激活细胞凋亡过程并增加活性氧的产生。这些结果表明，进一步研究这些精油的作用可能是有利的，因为它们可能作为前列腺癌的抗癌药物单独使用或与化疗药物联合使用。
