Huaier suppresses proliferative and metastatic potential of prostate cancer PC3 cells via downregulation of Lamin B1 and induction of autophagy.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common malignancies occurring in males. Although large advances have been made in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer, the development of drugs with high efficacy and low toxicity for the treatment of prostate cancer is urgently needed. Recently, more and more attention has been paid to the antitumor effect of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) worldwide. Trametes robiniophila Murr. (Huaier) has been applied as a type of TCM drug for ~1,600 years. Huaier exhibits excellent clinical efficacy in the treatment of cancer, including prostate cancer. However, the mechanisms underlying the anti-prostate cancer effect of Huaier remain largely unclear. In the present study, we revealed that Huaier aqueous extract inhibited the proliferative and metastatic capabilities of human prostate cancer PC3 cells through CCK-8 assay, in vitro scratch assay and Transwell assay. Moreover, decreased Lamin B1 was implicated in Huaier-induced suppression of proliferative and metastatic potential of PC3 cells. Intriguingly, we demonstrated that Huaier treatment induced autophagic cell death in PC3 cells. This study sheds new light on the mechanisms underlying the activity of Huaier against prostate cancer and provides a new theoretical basis for the clinical application of Huaier in prostate cancer.