Effects of Qilan Prescription on the proliferation and apoptosis of human prostate cancer DU145 cells and its action mechanism

ZHOU Jing; YUAN Fan; LUO Chun-mei; ZHU Kun; LIU Bo-yan; CHANG Yue; YOU Yao-dong

doi:10.13263/j.cnki.nja.2023.03.010

Abstract：Objective:To investigate the effects of different concentrations of Qilan Prescription(QLP)on the proliferation and apoptosis of human PCa DU145 cells and its underlying mechanism.Methods:We treated human PCa DU145 cells with QLP at 400,200,100,50,25,12.5,6.25,3.125 or 1.56 μg/ml for 24,48 and 72 hours respectively.Then we observed the morphologi-cal changes of the cells,examined their viability by CCK-8 assay,detected their cell cycle and apoptosis by flow cytometry,and deter-mined the protein expressions of cyclin D1,Bax,Bcl-2 and cleaved-caspase 3 in the DU145 cells by Western blot,followed by com-parison of the parameters with those obtained from the blank control group.Results:QLP significantly inhibited the growth,reduced the contour clarity and adhesion ability of the DU145 cells at the concentrations of 100,200 and 400 μg/ml,and markedly decreased the activity of the cells at 200 and 400 μg/ml,most significantly at 400 μg/ml.The number of the G2-phase DU145 cells was dramat-ically increased in all the concentration groups(P＜0.01),so was the total number of apoptotic DU145 cells(P＜0.01),while that of the S-phase cells remarkably decreased in the 400 μg/ml QLP(P＜0.01)and 200 μg/ml QLP(P＜0.05)groups.The ex-pression of the cyclin D1 protein was significantly down-regulated in the 400 μg/ml QLP group(P＜0.01).That of Bcl-2 was also down-regulated(P＜0.01)while those of Bax and cleaved-caspase 3 up-regulated in the 400 and 200 μg/ml QLP groups(P＜0.01).Conclusion:QLP can inhibit the proliferation and promote the apoptosis of human PCa DU145 cells,which may be associat-ed with its effects of down-regulating the expression of the cell cycle-related protein cyclin D1,disrupting the Bax-Bcl-2 balance,and up-regulating the expression of cleaved-caspase 3.