The potential antitumor activity of polysaccharide extracted from polygonatumsibiricum on human prostate cancer PC-3 cells

Abstract Polysaccharide extracted from polygonatum sibiricum (PSP) is a traditional herbal medicine component thought to have therapeutic effects on many diseases. In our study, we initially investigated the role of PSP in the development of human prostate cancer PC-3 cells and explored the potential mechanisms. First, the different concentrations of PSP were used to act on human prostate cancer cells PC-3, It was found that the proliferation, invasiveness, and migratory ability of PC-3 cells were significantly inhibited with increasing concentrations of PSP; the cell apoptosis rate and expression of caspase-3 increased with increasing concentrations of PSP; and the cell cycle was arrested in the S phase. In addition, we found that the expression of the MDR-1 gene and its encoding protein P-gp in PC-3 cells decreased after the treatment with PSP, so PSP might reverse multidrug resistance in PC-3 cells. Second, the possible mechanism of PSP action on PC-3 cells has been investigated, and the results showed that phosphorylated P65, PI3K, and AKT decreased in a concentration-dependent manner, as P65, PI3K, and AKT are molecules of the NF-kB and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways, so the potential mechanism of PSP on prostate cancer cells might be mediated by the PI3K/Akt and NF-kB signaling pathway simultaneously.