The ethanol extraction of prepared Psoralea corylifolia induces apoptosis and autophagy and alteres genes expression assayed by cDNA microarray in human prostate cancer PC‐3 cells

Abstract

Prostate cancer is the most common male reproductive system cancer. The prevalence of prostate cancer in Europe and the United States is higher than that in the Asian region. However, the treatment of prostate cancer remains unsatisfactory. Psoralea corylifolia has been used to cure this disease as Chinese medicine in the Asian region. In this study, we analyzed the components of ethanol extraction of unprepared and prepared P. corylifolia by HPLC. Psoralen and isopsoralen content from the prepared P. corylifolia is twofold higher than that from unprepared, so we use the prepared extraction in this study. However, the effects of the ethanol extraction of P. corylifolia (PCE) on PC-3 human prostate cancer cells remain unclear. PC-3 cells were treated with PCE for different time periods and cells were examined for cell morphological change and total viable cells by using contrast phase microscopy and flow cytometer, respectively. Results indicated that PCE induced cell morphological changes and cytotoxic effect in PC-3 cells in dose-dependent manners. PCE induced chromatin condensation of PC-3 cells dose-dependently. PCE also induced apoptosis and autophagy in PC-3 by western blotting and acridine orange (AO) staining, respectively. Furthermore, a complementary DNA microarray analysis demonstrated that PCE treatment led to 944 genes upregulation and 872 genes downregulation. For example, the DNA damage-associated gene DNA-damage-inducible transcript 3 (DDIT 3) had a 62.1-fold upregulation and CDK1 2.68-fold downregulation. The differential genes were classified according to the Gene Ontology. Furthermore, GeneGo software was used for the key genes involved and their possible interaction pathways. Those genes were affected by P. corylifolia, which provided information for the understanding of the antiprostate cancer mechanism at the genetic level and provide additional targets for the treatments of human prostate cancer.

Quercetin induced cell apoptosis and altered gene expression in AGS human gastric cancer cells

“…The DAVID functional annotation clustering tool was used to detect significantly over‐represented GO biological processes and enrichment was determined at DAVID calculated Benjamini value <0.05. A standard Student's t test was used to measure the significance of overexpression of individual genes . These genes complete with Affymetrix transcript identifiers were uploaded by Microsoft Excel spreadsheet onto Metacore 5.0 software (GeneGo pathways analysis) .…”

“…A standard Student's t test was used to measure the significance of overexpression of individual genes . These genes complete with Affymetrix transcript identifiers were uploaded by Microsoft Excel spreadsheet onto Metacore 5.0 software (GeneGo pathways analysis) . GeneGo recognizes these genes to the MetaCore data analysis suite for generating maps regarding common pathways or molecular connections between quercetin treated.…”

Bavachin Protects Human Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells Against β-Glycerophosphate-Mediated Vascular Calcification and Apoptosis via Activation of mTOR-Dependent Autophagy and Suppression of β-Catenin Signaling

“…Previous studies have reported that bavachin has a variety of pharmacological effects, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidation, anti-ageing, anti-bacterial and estrogen-like effects, which molecular structure is shown in Figure 2A. P. corylifolia has been demonstrated to induce autophagy in PC-3 cells (Lin et al, 2018). So, we will further study whether bavachin can activate autophagy in HASMCs.…”

Polyphenol-Mediated Autophagy in Cancer: Evidence of In Vitro and In Vivo Studies

“…Recently, it was shown that osthole (7-metoxy-8-isopenthenocoumarin; 150-250 µM), alone and with TMZ, triggered autophagy in human glioblastoma multiforme (T98G) and anaplastic astrocytoma (MOGGCCM) cells, although the main type of induced death in these cells was apoptosis [197]. Two major coumarins extracted from Psoralea corylifolia (50-400 µg/mL), psoralen and isopsoralen, exerted a cytotoxic effect in prostate cancer cells PC-3, through the induction of apoptosis and autophagy [198]. The induction of autophagic cell death in prostate cancer cells (PC-3 and DU145) was also demonstrated for a geranylated 4-phenylcoumarin (DMDP-1; 9 µM), extracted from the bark of Mesua elegans (Clusiaceae) [199].…”