Comprehensive two-dimensional PC-3 prostate cancer cell membrane chromatography for screening anti-tumor components from Radix Sophorae flavescentis.

Radix Sophorae flavescentis is generally used for the treatment of different stages of prostate cancer in China. It has ideal effects when combined with surgical treatment and chemotherapy. However, its active components are still ambiguous. We devised a comprehensive two-dimensional PC-3 prostate cancer cell membrane chromatography system for screening anti-prostate cancer components in Radix Sophorae flavescentis. Gefitinib and dexamethasone were chosen as positive and negative drugs respectively for validation and optimization the selectivity and suitability of the comprehensive two-dimensional chromatographic system. Five compounds, sophocarpine, matrine, oxymatrine, oxysophocarpine, and xanthohumol were found to have significant retention behaviors on the PC-3 cell membrane chromatography and were unambiguously identified by time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Cell proliferation and apoptosis assays confirmed that all five compounds had anti-prostate cancer effects. Matrine and xanthohumol had good inhibitory effects, with half maximal inhibitory concentration values of 0.893 and 0.137 mg/mL, respectively. Our comprehensive two-dimensional PC-3 prostate cancer cell membrane chromatographic system promotes the efficient recognition and rapid analysis of drug candidates, and it will be practical for the discovery of prostate cancer drugs from complex traditional Chinese medicines.