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Protopine, a novel microtubule-stabilizing agent, causes mitotic arrest and apoptotic cell death in human hormone-refractory prostate cancer cell lines

By: Chen CH, Liao CH, Chang YL, Guh JH, Pan SL, Teng CM.

Pharmacological Institute, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
Cancer Lett. 2011 Oct 8.

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the anticancer effect of protopine on human hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) cells. Protopine exhibited an anti-proliferative effect by induction of tubulin polymerization and mitotic arrest, which ultimately led to apoptotic cell death. The data suggest that protopine increased the activity of cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (Cdk1)/cyclin B1 complex and that contributed to cell apoptosis by modulating mitochondria-mediated signaling pathways, such as Bcl-2 phosphorylation and Mcl-1 down-regulation. In conclusion, the data suggest that protopine is a novel microtubule stabilizer with anticancer activity in HRPC cells through apoptotic pathway by modulating Cdk1 activity and Bcl-2 family of proteins.

PMID: 22033245 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] Source: National Library of Medicine.