Induction of apoptosis in human hormone-refractory prostate cancer cell lines by using resveratrol in combination with AT-101.

The aim of this study was to determine the appropriate doses of AT-101 and resveratrol combination in the in vitro hormone-refractory prostate cancer (PC) cell lines, in order to evaluate the cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of this combination on the proliferation of cancer cells, namely PC-3, DU-145 and LNCAP. Cytotoxicity in PC cell lines was analysed by using the XTT Cell Proliferation Assay. DNA damage was performed with the cell death assay. Apoptotic protein levels were performed by Roche Human Apoptosis Array. IC50 values were determined by XTT analysis. The strongest combined doses (100 µM resveratrol + 5µM AT-101) were found to have the strongest synergistic apoptotic and cytotoxic effects on DU-145 cells at 72 hr. While the combined use of resveratrol and AT-101 increased the expression of markers in apoptotic cell pathways on cells, a decrease in the expression of anti-apoptotic markers was detected (p ˂ 0.05). Combined applications of these compounds showed an important synergism in the hormone-refractory PC cell lines, and it was determined that after the post-translational modification, they were significantly effective on the apoptotic pathway. These results have revealed that the combination of resveratrol and AT-101 holds great expectation as a new chemotherapeutic application in the treatment of human prostate cancer.