The Effect Of Formononein On The Proliferation Of Human Prostate Carcinoma PC-3 Cells And Its Mechanism

Objective: The aim of this study is to enrich the relevant theory and experiment so as to make formononetin as a candidate agent for clinical treatment of prostate in the future.Methods: The MTT assay was used to determine cell viability treated by different concentrations of formononetin on PC-3 cells. The flow cytometry was used to determine apoptosis in the treated PC-3 cells. The mRNA expressions of cyclin D1 and CDK4 were detected by real-time PCR, and western blotting was used to determine the levels of protein expressions of cyclin D1, CDK4, p-Akt. Nude mice were used for xenograft studies with subcutaneous injection of PC-3 cells. The mice were respectively received for 20 days intraperitoneal administration of formononetin. Then the recipient mice were killed and tumors were excised. The tumor inhibitory rate of formononetin was calculated.Results: The viability of the formononetin groups showed in MTT assay was high in the high concentration groups in PC-3 cells dose-dependently. The flow cytometry results showed that formononetin groups showed a gradual increase in the percentage of G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle with concentration. The cyclin D1 and CDK4 mRNA in formononetin groups decreased dramatically in real-time PCR. The result of western blot indicated that while the concentration of formononetin increased, the expressions of cyclin D1, CDK4 both decreased as well as p-Akt. Furthermore, in the in vivo studies, formononetin showed an inhibitory effect on the proliferation of tumor growth in nude mice.Conclusions: Formononetin exhibits anti-tumor effects on human prostate cancer PC-3 cells in vitro and in vivo by leading to G0/G1 cell cycle arrest, which is mediated by inhibiting Akt-mediated signaling pathways and blocking the expressions of cyclin D1/CDK4 complexes.