α-Pinene Inhibits Human Prostate Cancer Growth in a Mouse Xenograft Model.

BACKGROUND

α-Pinene is one of the most widely found terpenoids in nature. Substantial evidence shows that α-pinene has cancer prevention properties. In this study, the PC-3 cell line was used to establish subcutaneous xenograft tumors in nude mice.

METHODS

Cytotoxicity was measured with the MTT assay, and apoptosis and cell cycle analyses were conducted using flow cytometry in vitro. The PC-3 cell line was used to establish subcutaneous xenograft tumors in nude mice.

RESULTS

We found that treatment with α-pinene significantly inhibited human prostate cancer cell growth and induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in the cell line-based model. Furthermore, tumor progression was inhibited more in mice treated with α-pinene than in control mice. We detected less Ki67 and proliferation cell nuclear antigen in paraffin sections from xenograft tumor specimens taken from α-pinene-treated mice than in those from the control group. Meanwhile, α-pinene treatment induced apoptosis in xenograft tumors as determined by the TUNEL assay.

CONCLUSIONS

These data strongly suggest that α-pinene inhibits prostate cancer growth in a xenograft model and may be an effective therapeutic agent for prostate cancer treatment.