Ursodeoxycholic Acid Induces Death Receptor-mediated Apoptosis in Prostate Cancer Cells

• Published in: Journal of cancer prevention 2017, 22(1), , pp.16-21
• Main Authors: Lee, Won Sup, Jung, Ji Hyun, Panchanathan, Radha, Yun, Jeong Won, Kim, Dong Hoon, Kim, Hye Jung, Kim, Gon Sup, Ryu, Chung Ho, Shin, Sung Chul, Hong, Soon Chan, Choi, Yung Hyun, Jung, Jin-Myung
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Original; 예방의학
• ISSN: 2288-3649; 2288-3657
• DOI: 10.15430/JCP.2017.22.1.16

Bile acids have anti-cancer properties in a certain types of cancers. We determined anticancer activity and its underlying molecular mechanism of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) in human DU145 prostate cancer cells. Cell viability was measured with an MTT assay. UDCA-induced apoptosis was determined with flow cytometric analysis. The expression levels of apoptosis-related signaling proteins were examined with Western blotting. UDCA treatment significantly inhibited cell growth of DU145 in a dose-dependent manner. It induced cellular shrinkage and cytoplasmic blebs and accumulated the cells with sub-G1 DNA contents. Moreover, UDCA activated caspase 8, suggesting that UDCA-induced apoptosis is associated with extrinsic pathway. Consistent to this finding, UDCA increased the expressions of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) receptor, death receptor 4 (DR4) and death receptor 5 (DR5), and TRAIL augmented the UDCA-induced cell death in DU145 cells. In addition, UDCA also increased the expressions of Bax and cytochrome and decreased the expression of Bcl-xL in DU145 cells. This finding suggests that UDCA-induced apoptosis may be involved in intrinsic pathway. UDCA induces apoptosis via extrinsic pathway as well as intrinsic pathway in DU145 prostate cancer cells. UDCA may be a promising anti-cancer agent against prostate cancer.