Apigenin impedes cell cycle progression at G2 phase in prostate cancer cells

Su Su Thae Hnit; Mu Yao; Chanlu Xie; Ling Bi; Matthew Wong; Tao Liu; Paul De Souza; Zhong Li; Qihan Dong

doi:10.1007/s12672-022-00505-1

Apigenin impedes cell cycle progression at G₂ phase in prostate cancer cells

Discov Oncol. 2022 Jun 7;13(1):44. doi: 10.1007/s12672-022-00505-1.

Authors

Su Su Thae Hnit^{1

2

3}, Mu Yao^{1

2}, Chanlu Xie^{1

2}, Ling Bi⁴, Matthew Wong^{5

6}, Tao Liu^{5

6}, Paul De Souza⁷, Zhong Li^{8

9}, Qihan Dong^{10

11

12}

Affiliations

¹ Chinese Medicine Anti-cancer Evaluation Program, Greg Brown Laboratory, Central Clinical School and Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
² Department of Endocrinology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
³ School of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁴ Department of Oncology, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China.
⁵ Children's Cancer Institute Australia for Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁶ Centre for Childhood Cancer Research, UNSW Medicine, Sydney, Australia.
⁷ School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Sydney , Australia.
⁸ Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China. lizhong@bucm.edu.cn.
⁹ Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 201203, Beijing, China. lizhong@bucm.edu.cn.
¹⁰ Chinese Medicine Anti-cancer Evaluation Program, Greg Brown Laboratory, Central Clinical School and Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Qihan.Dong@sydney.edu.au.
¹¹ Department of Endocrinology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Qihan.Dong@sydney.edu.au.
¹² Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, 2006, Camperdown, NSW, Australia. Qihan.Dong@sydney.edu.au.

Abstract

As a natural flavone, apigenin is abundantly present in vegetables, fruits, oregano, tea, chamomile, wheat sprout and is regarded as a major component of the Mediterranean diet. Apigenin is known to inhibit proliferation in different cancer cell lines by inducing G₂/M arrest, but it is unclear whether this action is predominantly imposed on G₂ or M phases. In this study, we demonstrate that apigenin arrests prostate cancer cells at G₂ phase by flow cytometric analysis of prostate cancer cells co-stained for phospho-Histone H3 and DNA. Concurrently, apigenin also reduces the mRNA and protein levels of the key regulators that govern G₂-M transition. Further analysis using chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) confirmed the diminished transcriptional activities of the genes coding for these regulators. Unravelling the inhibitory effect of apigenin on G₂-M transition in cancer cells provides the mechanistic understanding of its action and supports the potential for apigenin as an anti-cancer agent.

Keywords: Apigenin; G2 phase; Phospho-histone H3; Prostate.

Abstract

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