• The effect of green tea EGCG on the expression of growth factor receptors and PI3K pathway in the androgen-dependent LNCaP cells
  • Katayoon Asgari,1,* Zahra Fazeli,2 Masoumeh Rajabibazl,3 Azam Daraei,4
    1. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
    2. Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
    3. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
    4. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran


  • Introduction: Different signaling pathways have been demonstrated to be involved in the pathogenesis of human cancers. Several studies indicated that the abnormal expression of growth factor receptors and PI3K signaling pathway genes plays an important role in the cell survival and proliferation of prostate cancer cells. In the present study, the effect of EGCG, a major component of green tea, was studied on the expression of PI3K, AKT, mTOR, EGFR, MET, IGF1R and FGFR1 in the prostate cancer LNCaP cells.
  • Methods: For this purpose, LNCaP cells were treated with different concentrations of EGCG. After 48 and 72 hours, the cell viability of treated cells was evaluated by MTT assay. Then, RNA was extracted from the LNCaP cells treated by EGCG concentrations which was associated with the significant reduction in cell viability (<0.05). After removing DNA contamination and synthesis of cDNA, the expression of PI3K, AKT, mTOR, EGFR, MET, IGF1R and FGFR1 was determined by Real time PCR.
  • Results: The analysis of data showed that treatment with 200μM EGCG for 72 hours significantly diminished the expression of AKT, EGFR and FGFR1 genes in the androgen-dependent LNCaP cells. Furthermore, the decreased expression of AKT and IGF1R was observed in the LNCaP cells treated with 500μM EGCG for 72 hours (p<0.05).
  • Conclusion: The obtained results suggested that EGCG reduced the survival of LNCaP cells through the downregulation of AKT, EGFR, FGFR1 and IGF1R genes
  • Keywords: EGCG, Prostate cancer, PI3K pathways, Growth factor receptors, LNCaP cells