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Molecular Mechanisms of Silibinin-Mediated Cancer Chemoprevention with Major Emphasis on Prostate Cancer

  • Review Article
  • Theme: Natural Products Drug Discovery in Cancer Prevention
  • Published:
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Abstract

Despite advances in early detection, prostate cancer remains the second highest cancer mortality in American men, and even successful interventions are associated with enormous health care costs as well as prolonged deleterious effects on quality of patient life. Prostate cancer chemoprevention is one potential avenue to alleviate these burdens. It is a regime whereby long-term treatments are intended to prevent or arrest cancer development, in contrast to more direct intervention upon disease diagnosis. Based on this intention, cancer chemoprevention generally focuses on the use of nontoxic chemical agents which are well-tolerated for prolonged usage that is necessary to address prostate cancer’s multistage and lengthy period of progression. One such nontoxic natural agent is the flavonoid silibinin, derived from the milk thistle plant (Silybum marianum), which has ancient medicinal usage and potent antioxidant activity. Based on these properties, silibinin has been investigated in a host of cancer models where it exhibits broad-spectrum efficacy against cancer progression both in vitro and in vivo without noticeable toxicity. Specifically in prostate cancer models, silibinin has shown the ability to modulate cell signaling, proliferation, apoptosis, epithelial to mesenchymal transition, invasion, metastasis, and angiogenesis, which taken together provides strong support for silibinin as a candidate prostate cancer chemopreventive agent.

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported by NCI RO1 grant CA102514.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, USA

    Harold Ting, Gagan Deep & Rajesh Agarwal

  2. University of Colorado Cancer Center, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, USA

    Gagan Deep & Rajesh Agarwal

  3. Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, 12850 E. Montview Blvd, Room V20-2118, Box C238, Aurora, Colorado, 80045, USA

    Rajesh Agarwal

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  1. Harold Ting
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  2. Gagan Deep
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Correspondence to Rajesh Agarwal.

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Guest Editors: Ah-Ng Tony Kong and Chi Chen

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Ting, H., Deep, G. & Agarwal, R. Molecular Mechanisms of Silibinin-Mediated Cancer Chemoprevention with Major Emphasis on Prostate Cancer. AAPS J 15, 707–716 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1208/s12248-013-9486-2

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