Anti-androgenic activity of icarisid II from epimedium herb in prostate cancer LNCaP cells

Abstract

Anti-androgens are regarded as potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of prostate cancer. We determined that an epimedium herb (EH) extract exhibited antiandrogenic activity in a luciferase assay using androgen receptor-positive prostate cancer LNCaP cells. Nine EH-derived flavonoids were examined. The results identified icarisid II as a very potent anti-androgenic EH-derived flavonoid. A quantitative RT-PCR analysis confirmed that the flavonol suppressed the expression of the androgen-responsive KLK3 gene.