Flavopiridol is an inhibitor of several
cyclin-dependent kinases, and exhibits potent growth-inhibitory activity against a number of human tumor cell lines both in vitro, and when grown as xenografts in mice. It has shown promising
antineoplastic activity and is currently undergoing clinical phase II testing.
Prostate cancer (PCa) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among males in the United States. There are no effective treatments for
hormone and/or radiation refractory PCa, suggesting that novel and newer treatment strategy may be useful in the management of PCa. Our previous study showed that
flavopiridol induces cell growth inhibition and apoptosis in
breast cancer cells. Here, we investigated whether
flavopiridol was effective against
prostate cancer cells.
Flavopiridol was found to inhibit growth of PC3
prostate cancer cells. Induction of apoptosis was also observed in PC3 cells treated with
flavopiridol, as measured by
DNA laddering and PARP cleavage. We also found a significant down-regulation of Bcl-2 in
flavopiridol-treated cells. These findings suggest that down-regulation of Bcl-2 may be one of the molecular mechanisms through which
flavopiridol induces apoptosis and inhibits cell growth, suggesting that
flavopiridol may be an effective chemotherapeutic agent against
prostate cancer.