In vitro anticancer activity of stachydrine isolated from Capparis decidua on prostate cancer cell lines

In this article we report our work on the isolation, characterisation and evaluation of in vitro anticancer activity of stachydrine on solid tumour cells. The in vitro activity was assessed by MTT assay and propidium iodide (PI) staining. Further, an attempt was also made to check the effect of stachydrine on the invasion and metastasis of cancer cells by inhibiting the expression of chemokine receptors (CXCR3 and CXCR4). The influence of stachydrine on the gene expression of CXCR3 and CXCR4 at mRNA and protein levels was examined. Studies revealed a dose dependent decrease in expression of mRNA, and protein levels were observed in stachydrine-treated human prostate cancer cells (PC-3 and LNcaP) as detected by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The data therefore provides direct evidence for the role of stachydrine as a potent anti-metastatic agent, which can markedly inhibit the malignancy and invasive capacity of malignant cancer cells.