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A novel anticancer agent icaritin inhibited proinflammatory cytokines in TRAMP mice

  • Urology - Original Paper
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Abstract

Purpose

We aimed to investigate whether icaritin (ICT) would inhibit serum proinflammatory cytokines and postpone prostate cancer (PCa) development and progression in both normal diet and high-fat diet (HFD) transgenic adenocarcinoma mouse prostate (TRAMP) mice.

Methods

TRAMP mice were randomly divided into four groups: normal diet with/without ICT group and HFD with/without ICT group. Each TRAMP mouse received intraperitoneal injection of ICT solution at the dose of 30 mg/kg 5 times per week.

Results

ICT treatment could significantly increase the survival when compared with those in normal diet group (P = 0.015, log-rank test) and HFD group (P = 0.009, log-rank test). Proinflammatory cytokine levels, including IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α, were decreased more or less in ICT-treated TRAMP mice. Moreover, significant higher inflammation scores were detected in normal diet group and HFD group compared with their relevant ICT treatment groups (P = 0.026 and P = 0.006, respectively). Meanwhile, the incidences of well-differentiated tumor tissue in two ICT treatment groups (39.13 and 31.82 %) were moderately higher than control groups (29.41 and 20.00 %, respectively), though no significant difference was observed.

Conclusions

Taken together, our findings indicate that ICT could inhibit the development and progression of PCa in TRAMP mice via inhibiting proinflammatory cytokines.

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Acknowledgments

This study was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81272835).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Urology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, No. 12 WuLuMuQi Middle Road, Shanghai, 200040, People’s Republic of China

      Jimeng Hu, Tian Yang, Hua Xu, Mengbo Hu, Hui Wen & Haowen Jiang

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    1. Jimeng Hu
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    2. Tian Yang
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    3. Hua Xu
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    4. Mengbo Hu
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    5. Hui Wen
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    Correspondence to Haowen Jiang.

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    The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

    Ethical approval

    All applicable International, National, and/or Institutional Guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

    Additional information

    Jimeng Hu and Tian Yang contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors.

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    Hu, J., Yang, T., Xu, H. et al. A novel anticancer agent icaritin inhibited proinflammatory cytokines in TRAMP mice. Int Urol Nephrol 48, 1649–1655 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-016-1341-9

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-016-1341-9

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