Liang Bin, Cui Shouxi, Zou Songnian
Department of Urology, Changzhou Cancer (Fourth People's) Hospital, Changzhou, China.
Chin J Physiol. 2022 Nov-Dec;65(6):319-327. doi: 10.4103/0304-4920.365459.
Prostate cancer is a leading cause of cancer-associated death in males. Leonurine (Leo) is a pleiotropic anti-tumor agent isolated from traditional Chinese herb that was used in gynecologic treatments. However, its pharmacological effect against prostate cancer progression remains unclear. Here, we showed that Leo dose dependently inhibited prostate cancer cell proliferation, promoted cell apoptosis, and induced cell cycle arrest. Moreover, we noticed that miR-18a-5p was downregulated and the solute carrier family 40 member 1 (SLC40A1) is upregulated by Leo treatment. SLC40A1 knockdown by siRNA abrogated the inhibitory effect of Leo on prostate cancer progression. Notably, Leo also significantly inhibited prostate cancer progression in a subcutaneous xenograft tumor mouse model in vivo. This study further unveiled the mechanism by which Leo inhibited prostate cancer progression, which provides a promising potential for its future clinical application.
前列腺癌是男性癌症相关死亡的主要原因。益母草碱（Leo）是一种从传统中草药中分离出来的具有多种作用的抗肿瘤药物，曾用于妇科治疗。然而，其对前列腺癌进展的药理作用仍不清楚。在此，我们表明益母草碱剂量依赖性地抑制前列腺癌细胞增殖，促进细胞凋亡，并诱导细胞周期停滞。此外，我们注意到，经益母草碱处理后，miR-18a-5p表达下调，溶质载体家族40成员1（SLC40A1）表达上调。通过小干扰RNA敲低SLC40A1可消除益母草碱对前列腺癌进展的抑制作用。值得注意的是，在体内皮下异种移植肿瘤小鼠模型中，益母草碱也显著抑制了前列腺癌的进展。本研究进一步揭示了益母草碱抑制前列腺癌进展的机制，为其未来的临床应用提供了有前景的潜力。
