Anticancer activity in vitro and biological safety evaluation in vivo of Sika deer antler protein

Abstract

This study evaluated the antitumor activity in vitro and biological safety in vivo of Sika deer antler protein (SDAPR). MTT and plate cloning assays were used for anti‐proliferation assessment of prostate cancer cells (PC‐3M) while flow cytometry and western blot were used for apoptosis analysis. In addition, biological safety of SDAPR was evaluated by acute oral toxicity test, bone marrow micronucleus assay and sperm aberration experiment. The results showed that SDAPR could suppress proliferation capacity and induce apoptosis on PC‐3M cells. No adverse effects were observed in Kunming mice following acute oral gavage with SDAPR at a dose of 8 g/kg body weight. The negative results obtained in bone marrow micronucleus test and sperm malformation assay demonstrated that SDAPR had no obvious toxicity to cause mutagenicity. In conclusion, SDAPR exerts anti‐tumor effect with high biological safety, which suggested that it could be used as a potential chemotherapeutic agent for human health. Practical applications It demonstrates that Sika deer antler protein has anticancer effects and high biological safety on prostate cancer cells. In addition, this paper provides scientific basis for treating tumors with Sika deer antler.

Anti-tumour activity of deer growing antlers and its potential applications in the treatment of malignant gliomas

“…Not only DAV extract was not toxic against non-cancerous cells, but it increased HEK293 cell proliferation at 72 h. If DAV extract were to be used as a therapy for the treatment of GB in combination with TMZ, it is likely that the growth factors contained in the extract might benefit surrounding normal tissues, deteriorated by the non-specific toxicity of TMZ treatment. These results highlight the cell-population specificity of the bioactive compounds and the balance between tumour suppressor proteins and growth factors, as described previously by Yang et al 19 . www.nature.com/scientificreports/ The TCA can predict sensitivity or resistance toward clinically used agents.…”

“…We consider these results a surprising effect of low-end concentrations of DAV, because it is paradoxical as it disappears at higher concentrations, and it would be the object of further research. In general, the non-statistical DAV extract trend mentioned above in T98 agrees with the significant anti-cancer effects on prostate cancer cells apoptosis 19 .…”

“…Landete-Castillejos et al 2 postulated that the bioactive molecules of DAV extract may be active against a broad spectrum of cancers, as we have found in this study for the case of GB. The basis of the hypothesis of Wang et al 8 explains why previous researchers had found that DAV extract showed anticancer properties in cancers very different from the tissues involved in the growing antler, such as the human prostate [18][19][20] . These researchers, and all those published to date, used commercially available DAV extract from the whole antler 17,28,29 .…”

“…Tang et al 18 observed a decrease in the expression of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and, for the first time, the anti-migration activity of DAV on prostate cancer. Yang et al 19 showed that DAV extract specifically reduced tumour growth in cell cultures of prostate cancer as effectively as a chemotherapeutic drug (cisplatin), but it promoted growth in non-cancerous (embryonic) cells. Similarly, Tang et al 20 found that DAV extract reduced tumour volume and weight as effectively as cisplatin in xenograft mouse models for prostate cancer, and hence, suggested that it may be a potential treatment to reduce metastasis in humans.…”

SWATH-MS Quantitative Proteomic Analysis of Deer Antler from Two Regenerating and Mineralizing Sections

“…As a result, the study postulated that several tumor genes (e.g., TP53) could be suppressed to control the high risk of developing cancer. In this sense, several studies have found in vitro and in vivo anti-cancer effects of deer antler velvet extract in human tumors such as glioblastoma [5], prostate [6,7], colon [8] and breast [9]. Velvet antler has been used as traditional medicine for over 2000 years and it is recognized in the pharmacopoeias of China, Korea and Japan.…”