Qianliening capsule treats benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) by down-regulating the expression of PCNA, CyclinD1 and CDK4

Abstract

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is characterized by abnormal proliferation of epithelial and stromal cells in prostatic tissue, which is closely correlated with increased expression of PCNA, CyclinD1 and CDK4. Therefore, inhibition of cell proliferation by suppressing the expression of the above genes is a promising strategy in the development of novel anti-BPH therapies. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Qianliening capsule (QC), a traditional Chinese formulation that has been shown to be clinically effective in the treatment of BPH, on the expression of PCNA, CyclinD1 and CDK4 in prostatic tissues of BPH rats. Male Sprage-Dawley (SD) rats were castrated and subcutaneously injected with testosterone propionate to generate BPH model. Meanwhile, BPH rats were orally treated with QC, or with finasteride that was used as a positive control drug. Treatment with QC or finasteride significantly reduced the PI (Prostate Index, PI = prostate wet weight / body weight × 100%) in BPH rats (P<0.05). In addition, QC or finasteride treatment significantly inhibited model construction-induced upregulation of expression of PCNA, CyclinD1 and CDK4 in prostatic tissues of BPH rats (P<0.05). Our findings for the first time demonstrated that QC can obviously reduce the PI, the expression of PCNA, CyclinD1 and CDK4 in the prostatic tissues of BPH rats, which may in part explain its anti-BPH activity.

Keywords: Qianliening capsule, benign prostatic hyperplasia, cell proliferation, PCNA, CyclinD1, CDK4