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Murine Prostate Cancer Inhibition by Dietary Phytochemicals—Curcumin and Phenyethylisothiocyanate

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ABSTRACT

Purpose

Prior studies from our laboratory have demonstrated the efficacy of a combined treatment of low doses of dietary agents curcumin and phenylethylisothiocyanate in effectively suppressing prostate cancer in vitro in human prostate cancer PC3 cells as well as in vivo in immunodeficient mice implanted with PC3 cells. Hence, this study was undertaken to examine the potential chemopreventive properties of the two agents against transgenic adenocarcinoma of the mouse prostate.

Materials and Methods

The efficacy of AIN-76A diet supplemented with 2% curcumin or 0.05% PEITC or a combination of 1% curcumin and 0.025% PEITC for periods of 10 and 16 weeks was tested against adenocarcinoma of the mouse prostate. Immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis were used to examine the expression of proliferation and apoptotic biomarkers. All statistical tests were two-sided.

Results

Supplementing AIN-76A diet with dietary phytochemicals curcumin or PEITC either alone or in combination, significantly decreased incidence of prostate tumor formation (P = 0.0064). Immunohistochemistry revealed a significant inhibition of high-grade PIN (P = 0.0006, 0.000069, 0.00029 for a treatment period of 10 weeks and P = 0.02582, 0.022179, 0.0317 for a treatment period of 16 weeks) along with decreased proliferation and increased apoptotic index in the curcumin, PEITC or curcumin and PEITC treated animals, respectively. Furthermore, Western blot analysis revealed that downregulation of the Akt signaling pathway may in part play a role in decreasing cell proliferation ultimately retarding prostate tumor formation.

Conclusion

Our data lucidly evidence the chemopreventive merits of dietary phytochemicals curcumin and PEITC in suppressing prostate adenocarcinoma.

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Acknowledgement

This study is supported in part by the National Institutes of Health grants R01-CA094828 and R01-CA118947 to A.-N. T. Kong.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey, 08854, USA

    Avantika Barve & Young-Sam Keum

  2. Department of Pharmaceutics, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 160 Frelinghuysen Road, Room 225, Piscataway, New Jersey, 08854, USA

    Tin Oo Khor & Ah-Ng Tony Kong

  3. Department for Chemical Biology, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey, 08854, USA

    Xingpei Hao, Chung S. Yang & Bandaru Reddy

  4. Center for Cancer Prevention Research, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey, 08854, USA

    Xingpei Hao, Chung S. Yang, Bandaru Reddy & Ah-Ng Tony Kong

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  1. Avantika Barve
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  2. Tin Oo Khor
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  3. Xingpei Hao
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  4. Young-Sam Keum
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  5. Chung S. Yang
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  6. Bandaru Reddy
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  7. Ah-Ng Tony Kong
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ah-Ng Tony Kong.

Additional information

Avantika Barve and Tin Oo Khor contributed equally to this work.

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Barve, A., Khor, T.O., Hao, X. et al. Murine Prostate Cancer Inhibition by Dietary Phytochemicals—Curcumin and Phenyethylisothiocyanate. Pharm Res 25, 2181–2189 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11095-008-9574-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11095-008-9574-7

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