Objective: To investigate the antiproliferative effect of cycloartan-24-ene-1alpha, 2alpha, 3beta-triol from Myrrh against human prostate cancer cells.
Methods: Morphological changes of compound-treated human prostate PC3 cells were determined by staining cells with Hoechst. The cell cycle progression and apoptosis were evaluated using flow cytometry assay. Apoptosis related protein levels were analyzed using Western blotting.
Results: Treatment of PC3 cells with cycloartan-24-ene-1alpha,2alpha,3beta-triol caused an increase ratio of apoptotic cells, which was verified by flow cytometry. It was also found that cycloartan-24-ene-1alpha,2alpha, 3beta-triol arrested cell cycle at the G0/G1 phase. Apoptosis related proteins, such as BCL-2, BAX, Caspase-3 and Caspase-9 were changed.
Conclusion: These observes data indicate that cycloartan-24-ene-1alpha,2alpha,3beta-triol inhibit the proliferation of PC3 cells via induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest.