The androgen receptor (AR) has a critical role in prostate cancer development and progression. Several curcumin analogues (A10, B10, C10, E10 and F10) with different linker groups were investigated for their effects in human prostate cancer CWR‑22Rv1 and LNCaP cell lines. The ability of these compounds to inhibit testosterone (TT)‑ or dihydrotestosterone (DHT)‑induced AR activity was determined by an AR‑linked luciferase assay and by TT‑ or DHT‑induced expression of prostate specific antigen. Compounds F10 and E10 had stronger inhibitory effects on the growth of cultured CWR‑22Rv1 and LNCaP cell lines, and they also had enhanced stimulatory effects on apoptosis compared with curcumin and other curcumin analogues (A10, B10, C10) in CWR‑22Rv1 cells. E10 and F10 were more potent inhibitors of AR activity than curcumin, A10 and B10. The higher activities of E10 and F10 may be correlated with a heteroatom linker. The results indicate that one of the potential mechanisms for the anticancer effect of the curcumin analogues was inhibition of AR pathways in human prostate cancer cells.

Eleven curcumin-related compounds containing a benzyl piperidone moiety were synthesized and evaluated for their effects on cultured prostate cancer PC-3 cells, pancreas cancer BxPC-3 cells, colon cancer HT-29 cells and lung cancer H1299 cells. Inhibitory effects of these compounds on the growth of PC-3, BxPC-3, HT-29 and H1299 cells were determined by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and trypan blue exclusion assay. Compounds benzyl piperidone 2 (P2), P4, P7, 4-bromo-2-fluoro-benzyl piperidone 2 (PFBr2), PFBr3 and PFBr4 (see syntheses and structures in Figs. 1, 2) exhibited potent inhibitory effects on the growth of cultured PC-3, BxPC-3, HT-29 and H1299 cells. The IC50 for these compounds was lower than 2 µM in all four cell lines. PFBr4 was 41-, 36-, 40- and 46-fold more active than curcumin for inhibiting the growth of PC-3, BxPC-3, HT-29 and H1299 cells, respectively. The benzyl piperidone-containing compounds studied also stimulated apoptosis in PC-3 cells. Mechanistic studies indicate that the effects of both curcumin and PFBr4 on PC-3 cells were associated with a decrease in phospho-Akt and phospho-extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk)1/2. The present study indicates that P2, P4, P7, PFBr2, PFBr3 and PFBr4 may have useful effects on human cancer cells.

Abstract. The concentrations required for curcumin to exert its anticancer activity (IC 50 , 20 µM) are difficult to achieve in the blood plasma of patients, due to the low bioavailability of the compound. Therefore, much effort has been devoted to the development of curcumin analogues that exhibit stronger anticancer activity and a lower IC 50 than curcumin. The present study investigated twelve pyridine analogues of curcumin, labeled as groups AN, BN, EN and FN, to determine their effects in CWR-22Rv1 human prostate cancer cells. The inhibitory effects of these compounds on testosterone (TT)-induced androgen receptor (AR) activity was determined by performing an AR-linked luciferase assay and by TT-induced expression of prostate-specific antigen.The results of the current study suggested that the FN group of analogues had the strongest inhibitory effect of growth on CWR-22Rv1 cultured cells, and were the most potent inhibitor of AR activity compared with curcumin, and the AN, BN and EN analogues. Thus, the results of the present study indicate the inhibition of the AR pathways as a potential mechanism for the anticancer effect of curcumin analogues in human prostate cancer cells. Furthermore, curcumin analogues with pyridine as a distal ring and tetrahydrothiopyran-4-one as a linker may be good candidates for the development of novel drugs for the treatment of prostate cancer, by targeting the AR signaling pathway. IntroductionProstate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related mortality in American men. The androgen receptor (AR) is a ligand-activated steroid hormone receptor that regulates normal prostate development and function (1). It is also critical in the development and progression of prostate cancer (2). Current therapeutic strategies for prostate cancer, such as androgen ablation therapy, inhibit AR function (3). A combination of androgen synthesis suppression and AR inhibition may be used as a more aggressive form therapy (4). Therefore, identification of the chemical agents and mechanisms that inhibit AR signaling warrant further investigation for the development of novel prostate cancer therapeutics.Curcumin is a non-nutritive yellow pigment found in turmeric, a rhizome-derivative of the plant Curcuma longa Linn. Numerous studies have demonstrated the anticancer activity of curcumin and curcumin analogues in animal models (5-10), as well as the effects on cell growth and apoptosis in vitro (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19). However, it should be noted that the clinical efficacy of curcumin is limited, possibly due to its low bioavailability (20)(21)(22).In our previous study, we synthesized a series of 12 pyridine analogues of curcumin with cyclohexanone, cyclopentanone, tetrahydropyran-4-one or tetrahydrothiopyran-4-one linkers, and determined their anticancer activities in cultured human cancer cells (23). It was determined that these pyridine analogues exhibited stronger inhibitory effects than curcumin on the growth of a number of human cancer cell lines, including human pros...

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