Project Summary/Abstract
The objective of the proposed project is to determine the combined effect of a combination of natural products
arctigenin and green tea (GT), with and without a MCP-1 signaling inhibitor RS 504393 (RS) in prevention and
treatment of prostate cancer particularly in obese mouse models. Obesity greatly increases the challenge in
cancer prevention and treatment. Obesity promotes tumor development and progression to aggressive forms
and subsequent metastasis, as observed in most types of cancer, including breast, colon, and prostate cancer.
In addition, obesity induces resistance in tumor cells to therapeutic drugs, leading to the failure of treatments.
Therefore, an ideal approach in cancer chemoprevention and therapy should co-target obesity as well, ideally
in a non-toxic manner. However, most of the current chemotherapeutic drugs have little activity on obesity, and
their efficacy is often limited by side effects. Natural product like GT has been shown to be effective against
multiple chronic diseases, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. We demonstrated in vitro in a co-
culture obesity model that the combination of arctigenin, a novel natural anti-inflammatory lignan, with GT
significantly enhanced the anti-proliferative effect in both prostate cancer cells and adipocytes, along with
reduced concentrations of adipocytes-secreted IGF-1 and VEGF in culture medium. The combination of RS, a
selective MCP-1 receptor CCR2 inhibitor, with arctigenin and GT led to elimination of prostate cancer cells in
obese state in vitro. The proposed project will confirm the combined effect of arctigenin, GT, with and without
RS in vivo in obese mouse models fed a high-fat diet which simulates the Western-style diet, with low-fat diet
fed mice as comparison. Specific aim 1 will determine the combined effect of arctigenin and GT in prevention
of prostate cancer in transgenic PTEN knockout mice. Aim 2 will investigate the therapeutic effect of arcigenin,
GT and RS in inhibition of tumor growth and prevention of metastasis using both transgenic and xenograft
mouse models. Aim 3 will identify the molecular mechanisms of the combination with a focus on their anti-
angiogenic activities. The proposed project will make significant contributions to the control of prostate cancer
by providing a highly effective and non-toxic modality through co-targeting obesity in cancer prevention and
treatment. This combination will contribute to the elimination of prostate cancer incidence, mortality and cancer
disparities with its potential low cost, culturally acceptability, and feasibility in addition to its efficacy. In addition
to prostate cancer, both GT and arctigenin have shown efficacy against other types of cancer, including breast
and colorectal cancer. Therefore this combination is anticipated to bring benefits to patients in treatment of
multiple cancers.