Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Student Research Committee, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Appl Biochem Biotechnol. 2023 Dec;195(12):7796-7807. doi: 10.1007/s12010-023-04495-w. Epub 2023 Apr 24.
Prostate cancer is one of the main global health threats for men which is in close association with chronic inflammation. Neuropeptide substance P (SP), acting through neurokinin receptor (NK-1R), induces various pro-inflammatory responses which are strongly involved in the pathogenesis of several diseases as well as cancer. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the pro-inflammatory functions of the SP/NK1R complex in prostate cancer and the therapeutic effects of its inhibition by NK-1R antagonist, aprepitant, in vitro. MTT assay was conducted for the cytotoxicity assessment of aprepitant in prostate cancer cells. The protein expression levels were evaluated by Western blot assay. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was applied to measure mRNA expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Concurrently, the protein concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines were also analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. We observed that SP increased the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α), while treatment with aprepitant reduced the effects of SP. We also indicated that SP increased the protein levels of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), as the main regulator of inflammatory processes, and also an NF-κB target gene, cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) in prostate cancer cells, while treatment with aprepitant reversed these effects. Taken together, our findings highlight the importance of the SP/NK1R system in the modulation of pro-inflammatory responses in prostate cancer cells and suggest that aprepitant may be developed as a novel anti-inflammatory agent for the management of cancer-associated inflammation.
前列腺癌是全球男性面临的主要健康威胁之一,与慢性炎症密切相关。神经肽 P 物质(SP)通过神经激肽受体(NK-1R)发挥作用,诱导各种促炎反应,这些反应强烈参与了多种疾病以及癌症的发病机制。因此,我们旨在研究 SP/NK1R 复合物在前列腺癌中的促炎功能,以及 NK-1R 拮抗剂 aprepitant 在体外对其的抑制作用。采用 MTT 法评估 aprepitant 对前列腺癌细胞的细胞毒性。通过 Western blot 法评估蛋白表达水平。采用实时定量 PCR(qRT-PCR)法测量促炎细胞因子的 mRNA 表达水平。同时,通过酶联免疫吸附试验分析促炎细胞因子的蛋白浓度。我们观察到 SP 增加了促炎细胞因子(IL-1β、IL-6 和 TNF-α)的水平,而 aprepitant 的治疗则降低了 SP 的作用。我们还表明,SP 增加了核因子-κB(NF-κB)的蛋白水平,NF-κB 是炎症过程的主要调节剂,也是前列腺癌细胞中环氧化酶 2(COX-2)的 NF-κB 靶基因,而 aprepitant 的治疗则逆转了这些作用。总之,我们的研究结果强调了 SP/NK1R 系统在调节前列腺癌细胞促炎反应中的重要性,并表明 aprepitant 可能被开发为一种用于治疗癌症相关炎症的新型抗炎药物。