RESUMO
Objective:To investigate the effects of propofol on malignant biological behaviors of prostate cancer DU145 cells and its possible mechanism.Methods:Control group, 5-fluorouracil group (200 ng/ml) , low-dose propofol group (100 ng/ml) and high-dose propofol group (400 ng/ml) were set up. CCK-8 kit was used to measure the level of cell proliferation, Transwell method was used to measure the abilities of cell invasion and migration, flow cytometry was used to measure the level of apoptosis, and qRT-PCR and Western blotting were used to measure hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and c-Met mRNA and protein levels.Results:The survival rates of the control group, 5-fluorouracil group, low-dose propofol group and high-dose propofol group were (83.32±3.02) %, (36.29±3.54) %, (62.01±4.69) % and (40.20±5.48) % ( F=8.65, P=0.006) ; the apoptosis rates were (2.36±0.41) %, (12.47±0.40) %, (6.28±0.39) % and (10.24±0.37) % ( F=26.73, P=0.001) . Further pairwise comparison showed that there were statistically significant differences (all P<0.05) . The numbers of penetrating membranes of the four groups were 617.45±29.86, 125.27±24.38, 407.02±32.27 and 230.74±31.59 ( F=18.33, P=0.002) ; the migration distances were (603.85±27.74) μm, (121.69±25.85) μm, (395.59±28.37) μm and (233.52±30.42) μm ( F=27.02, P=0.001) . Further pairwise comparison showed that there were statistically significant differences (all P<0.05) . HGF mRNA expression levels of the four groups were 6.26±0.39, 1.94±0.35, 4.15±0.37 and 2.90±0.33 ( F=25.31, P=0.001) ; c-Met mRNA expression levels were 5.85±0.30, 2.04±0.32, 3.89±0.31 and 2.94±0.32 ( F=12.12, P=0.003) ; HGF protein expression levels were 1.43±0.04, 0.34±0.08, 0.86±0.06 and 0.63±0.09 ( F=17.02, P=0.001) ; c-Met protein expression levels were 1.63±0.14, 0.39±0.15, 0.93±0.11 and 0.64±0.17 ( F=19.89, P=0.001) . Further pairwise comparison showed that there were statistically significant differences (all P<0.05) . Conclusion:Propofol has obvious inhibitory effects on the malignant biological behaviors of prostate cancer DU145 cells, and the inhibitory effect of high-dose propofol is more obvious. The mechanism may be related to the inhibition of HGF and c-Met mRNA and protein expressions of DU145 cells by propofol, which inhibits the activation of HGF/c-Met pathway.