Dietary flavonoid tangeretin induces reprogramming of epithelial to mesenchymal transition in prostate cancer cells by targeting the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway.

Tangeretin, a natural polymethoxyflavone present in the peel of citrus fruits is known to exhibit anticancer properties against a variety of carcinomas. Previous experimental evidence suggests that lifestyle and dietary habits affect the risk of prostate cancer to a certain extent. As the effect of tangeretin on prostate cancer is unexplored, the present study investigated the effect of tangeretin on androgen-insensitive PC-3 cells and androgen-sensitive LNCaP cells. Tangeretin reduced the cell viability of PC-3 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner, with the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) observed at 75 µM dose following 72 h of incubation, while in LNCaP cells, the IC50 was identified to be ~65 µM. Expression levels of the mesenchymal proteins including vimentin, cluster of differentiation 44 and Neural cadherin in PC-3 cells were reduced by tangeretin treatment, whereas those of the epithelial proteins, including Epithelial cadherin and cytokeratin-19 were upregulated. Treatment of PC-3 cells also resulted in the downregulation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B/mammalian target of rapamycin (PI3K/Akt/mTOR) signaling pathway. Therefore, it may be concluded that tangeretin induces reprogramming of epithelial-mesenchymal transition in PC-3 cells by targeting the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway.