Biomedical Research

Sophocarpine is an herbal compound obtained from foxtail-based sophora seeds and herbs, and is found to have various clinical applications in Chinese herbal medicine. This study was aimed to determine the anticancer properties of sophocarpine against human prostate cancer cells PC93, TSU-Pr1 and their molecular mechanisms involved in anticancer activity. The cytotoxicity assay indicated that sophocarpine markedly inhibited cell proliferation against prostate cancer cells in a concentration and time-dependent manner. Further, TUNEL and flow cytometry results demonstrated that sophocarpine treatment may trigger apoptosis in a concentration dependent way. In addition, the western blot experiments revealed a significant increase in expression of Bax and p53 and significant reduction in Bcl-2 expression in a concentration dependent manner. In vivo studies determined that sophocarpine hinders tumour progression following subcutaneous injection of cancer cells into nude mice. The results indicated that the anticancer properties of sophocarpine are through the inhibition of cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis mediated through the regulation of apoptosis related protein expressions. Hence, the results may pave for new approach in prostate cancer therapy using sophocarpine.

Author(s): Dong SF, Yang JX, Lv GY, Fu QZ
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