Antitumor Effects of Saffron-Derived Carotenoids in Prostate Cancer Cell Models
Figure 2
In vivo experiments using PC3-bearing male nude mice treated with saffron extract (SE, 300 mg/kg administered po 5 days/week), crocin (CR, 200 mg/kg administered po 5 days/week), and crocetin (CCT, 100 mg/kg administered po 5 days/week) administered by oral gavage when tumors reached 0.5–0.8 cm3. After 30 days of treatment, animals were sacrificed and tumors harvested, weighed, and analyzed. Experiments were performed using 8 animals/group and were stopped at the indicated times. (a) Macroscopic appearance of PC3 tumors subjected to different treatments. (b) Tumor weight comparisons at the end of experiments. CR and CCT induced a significant reduction of tumor weight in the PC3 xenografts whereas SE resulted in only a 20% reduction. (c) Time to progression (TTP) probability determined by Kaplan-Meier analysis in PC3 xenografts. (d) Hazard ratio value with 95% CI and values determined according to different treatments. (e) Comparisons of TTP expressed in days after treatments.
