Empirical Study On Ursolic Acid Inducing Apoptosis In Human Prostatic Carcinoma Cell Line PC-3

Objective: To investigate the proliferation inhibition and apoptosis in human prostatic carcinoma cell line PC-3 induced by ursolic acid and their mechanism.Methods: PC-3 were treated by ursolic acid with different concentration and time. MTT assay, flow cytometry(FCM), SP method of immunocytochemistry, Western blot were used to observe the cell proliferation inhibition, cell cycle and apoptosis rate and the expressions of bcl-2, cox2, bax and caspase 3.Result: Ursolic acid inhibited the proliferation of PC-3 cells in dosage and time dependent manner. The IC50 of PC-3 cells that were treated by ursolic acid for 24, 48 and 72h are 50.87, 37.91 and 27.86μmol/L. The apoptosis rate of the PC-3 cells hightened with the increasing of the ursolic acid density and time. The apoptosis rates of the PC-3 cells that treated by 50μmol/L ursolic acid for 24, 48 and 72h are 6.21, 7.81 and 13.31%. Ursolic acid induced a G1 cell cycle arrest and reduced the cell population in S phase. With the increasing of the medicine density, the expression of bcl-2 and cox2 was down-regulated, while the expression of bax and caspase 3 up-regulated in the apoptosis.Conclusion: Ursolic acid can inhibit proliferation of the PC-3 cells and induced a G1 cell cycle arrest and reduced the cell population in S phase. It also can induce apoptosis of human prostatic carcinoma through down-regulating the expressions of bcl-2 and cox2, up-regulating the expression of bax, and caspase-3.