To investigate the mechanism of physcion affecting the cell cycle and proliferation of prostate cancer DU145 cell line by regulating the expression of miR-380-3p.

Prostate cancer DU145 cells were treated with 50 μg/mL physcion as physcion group, and normal cultured DU145 cells without any treatment were used as control group. Flow cytometry was used to detect DU145 cell cycle changes. MTT proliferation test was used to detect the proliferation of DU145 cells. quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of miR-380-3p in DU145 cells. The bioinformatics software RNAhybrid was used to predict the target genes of miR-380-3p. qRT-PCR and Western blotting methods were used to detect the expression of miR-380-3p target gene. Measurement data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation (±s), t-test was used for comparison between two groups.

Compared with the control group, DU145 cells in the physcion group were blocked in the G₀/G₁ phase (P<0.01), and the proliferation ability of DU145 cells was significantly inhibited (P<0.05). The expression of miR-380-3p in DU145 cells in the control group and physcion group was 8.36 ± 1.42 and 1.08 ± 0.39, respectively. Physcion could promote the expression of miR-380-3p (t=4.96, P<0.01). The functional target gene of miR-380-3p may be UHRF1. The relative expression levels of UHRF1 mRNA in DU145 cells in the physcion group and control group were 0.23±0.06 and 1.04±0.15, respectively. Compared with the control group, the expression of UHRF1 gene in DU145 cells in the physcion group was decreased (t=4.55, P<0.01).

Physcion can inhibit the proliferation of prostate cancer DU145 cells and induce G₀/G₁ block in DU145 cells, which may be closely related to the regulation of miR-380-3p.

Prostate neoplasms; Physcion; Cell proliferation; Cell cycle