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 apoptosisrate,the expressions of bcl-2,cox-2,bax and caspase 3.Results:Ursolic acidinhibited 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 h and 72 h are 50.87,37.91μmol/L and 27.86 μmol/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 50 μmol/L ursolic acid for 24,48 h and 72 h 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 cox-2 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 cellpopulation in S phase.It also can induce apoptosis of human prostatic carcinoma through down-regulating the expressions of bcl-2 and cox-2,up-regulating the expression of bax,and caspase3.