Mitotic arrest induced in human DU145 prostate cancer cells in response to KHC-4 treatment.

In this study, the antitumor activity of KHC-4 was analyzed using human prostate cancer (CaP) cells and the underlining anticancer mechanisms of KHC-4 were identified. KHC-4 inhibited cell proliferation and induced cytotoxicity in the castration-resistant CaP DU145 cell line. The most effective concentration of KHC-4 was 0.1 µM. Cell cycle analysis demonstrated that KHC-4 treatment caused G2/M arrest and a subsequent increase in the sub-G1 population. Furthermore, KHC-4 is up-regulated p21, p27, and p53 in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. The exposure of cells to KHC-4 induced Cdk1/cyclin B1 complex activity, which led to cell cycle arrest. Moreover, KHC-4 inhibited the activities of MMP-2 and MMP-9 to inhibit tumor cell metastasis. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 31: 1879-1887, 2016.

Induction of apoptosis in human DU145 prostate cancer cells by KHC-4 treatment.

Prostate cancer (CaP) is one of the most prevalent cancers worldwide and the incidence and mortality rates have been rapidly increasing in recent years in Taiwan. Therefore, it is important to development anti-cancer therapy. In this study, KHC-4 was identified from 2-phenyl-4-quionolone derivatives in human prostate cancer cells and as a potential antitumor agent. In this study, we have identified KHC-4 induced apoptosis effects in castration-resistant prostate cancer DU145 cells, and the IC50 value of KHC-4 was 0.1 µM. KHC-4 suppressed the survival signaling p-PI3K and p-Akt and protein levels of Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL, upregulated Bax, cytochrome c and Caspase 8/9 and induced apoptosis by mitochondrial-dependent pathway. In JC-1 assay monitored the loss of membrane potential in KHC-4 treatments. TUNEL assay results showed DNA fragmentation in KHC-4 induced apoptosis. We concluded that KHC-4 exerted anti-tumor effects in DU145 cells by induction of apoptosis.