Effect of lycium barbarum polysaccharides on human prostatic cancer cell growth

  Objective   To investigate the influence of lycium barbarum polysaccharides(LBP)on human prostatic cancer cell line PC-3.

  Methods   Time and dose effects of LBP were ex amined by using trypan blue exclusion staining; the influence on the cell cycle and the apoptosis were observed with flow cytometry.Single cell gel electrophoresis assay was applied to determine the DNA damage of PC-3 cell.

  Results   LBP could inhibit the growth of PC-3 cell line with a dose-effect and time-effect relationship.LBP could influence the cell cycle of PC-3 and induce apoptosis.The apoptosis rate was 40%.The breakage of DNA strand of PC-3 cell was observed.

  Conclusion   LBP inhibits PC-3 cell line independent of androgen in vitro, and the mechanism may be related to its influence on the cell cycle and inducing of apoptosis.