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

Background: alpha-Pinene is one of the most widely found terpenoids in nature. Substantial evidence shows that a-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 alpha-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 alpha-pinene than in control mice. We detected less Ki67 and proliferation cell nuclear antigen in paraffin sections from xenograft tumor specimens taken from a-pinene-treated mice than in those from the control group. Meanwhile, alpha-pinene treatment induced apoptosis in xenograft tumors as determined by the TUNEL assay. Conclusions: These data strongly suggest that alpha-pinene inhibits prostate cancer growth in a xenograft model and may be an effective therapeutic agent for prostate cancer treatment. (C) 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel