Abstract
Background
The flavonol glycoside icariside Ⅱ (ICA II) has been shown to exhibit a range of anti-tumor properties. Herein we evaluated the impact of ICA II on the proliferation, motility, and autophagy activity of human prostate cancer cells, and we further evaluated the molecular mechanisms underlying these effects.
Methods
Herein, we treated DU145 human prostate cancer cells with a range of ICA II doses. We then evaluated the proliferative abilities of these cells via CCK-8 assay, whereas apoptosis and cell cycle status were assessed via flow cytometry. We further utilized wound healing and transwell assays to probe the impact of ICA II on migratory and invasive activities, while autophagy was assessed via laser confocal fluorescence microscopy. Western blotting was further utilized to measure LC3-II/I, Beclin-1, P70S6K, PI3K, AKT, mTOR, phospho-AKT, phospho-mTOR, and phospho-P70S6K levels, with RT-PCR being used to evaluate the expression of these same genes at the mRNA level.
Results
We found that ICA II was capable of mediating a dose- and time-dependent suppression of prostate cancer cell proliferative activity, while also causing these cells to enter a state of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. We further determined that ICA II treatment was associated with significant impairment of prostate cancer cell migratory and invasive abilities, whereas autophagy was enhanced in treated cells relative to untreated controls. Levels of p-P70S6K, p-mTOR, p-AKT, and PI3K were all also decreased by ICA II.
Conclusion
Our results indicate that ICA II treatment is capable of suppressing human prostate tumor cell proliferation and disrupting migratory activity while enhancing autophagy through PI3K-AKT-mTOR signaling. As such, ICA II may be an ideal candidate drug for the treatment of prostate cancer.
Downregulation of microRNA-429 inhibits cell proliferation by targeting p27Kip1 in human prostate cancer cells
