Cancer therapeutic agents that are safe, effective and affordable are urgently needed. We describe that
1'-acetoxychavicol acetate (ACA), a component of Siamese ginger (Languas galanga), can suppress prostate
tumor growth by largely abrogating angiogenesis. ACA suppressed
vascular endothelial growth factor (
VEGF)-induced proliferation, migration, adhesion and tubulogenesis of primary cultured human umbilical vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs) in a dose-dependent manner. ACA also inhibited
VEGF-induced microvessel sprouting from aortic rings ex vivo and suppressed new vasculature formation in
Matrigel plugs in vivo. We further demonstrated that the mechanisms of this
chavicol were to block the activation of
VEGF-mediated
Src kinase,
focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and Rho family of small
guanosine triphosphatases (
GTPases) (Rac1 and Cdc42 but not RhoA) in HUVECs. Furthermore, treatment of human
prostate cancer cells (PC-3) with ACA resulted in decreased cell viability and suppression of
angiogenic factor production by interference with dual Src/FAK
kinases. After subcutaneous administration to mice bearing human
prostate cancer PC-3 xenografts, ACA (6 mg/kg/day) remarkably inhibited
tumor volume and
tumor weight and decreased levels of Src, CD31,
VEGF and Ki-67. As indicated by immunohistochemistry and TUNEL analysis, microvessel density and cell proliferation were also dramatically suppressed in
tumors from ACA-treated mice. Taken together, our findings suggest that ACA targets the Src-FAK-
Rho GTPase pathway, leading to the suppression of prostate
tumor angiogenesis and growth.