A Review of the Potential of Phytochemicals from Prunus africana (Hook f.) Kalkman Stem Bark for Chemoprevention and Chemotherapy of Prostate Cancer

Table 1

In vitro and in vivo effects of P. africana phytochemicals on prostate cancer cells.

S/No	Class of compound	Phytochemical compounds	Compound structure	Cellular target	Cellular effects	Reference
(a)	Pentacyclic triterpenoid saponins	Ursolic acid		PC-3 LNCaP BCL-2	Inhibited growth of prostate cancer cells; downregulated Bcl-2	[2, 20, 22–28]
(b)	Pentacyclic triterpenoid saponins	Oleanolic acid		PC-3 DU145 LNCaP PI3K/Akt AMPK	Inhibited cell viability, proliferation, promoted cell apoptosis, and arrested G0/G1 phase cell cycle in prostate cancer cells	[2, 22–27, 29, 30]
(c)	Triterpene	β-amyrin		PC-3	Exhibited cytotoxicity and apoptosis on prostate cancer cells	[31]
(d)	Phenol	Atraric acid		PC-3-AR AR	Showed anti-androgenic activity, inhibited AR translocation to the cell nucleus, decreased cell proliferation of PC-3-AR, and inhibited cellular invasion by prostate cancer cells into the extracellular matrix	[6, 9, 32, 33]
(e)	Phenol	Ferulic acid		BCL-2 LNCaP PC-3	Inhibited the angiogenic pathways, inhibited cell proliferation, and promoted apoptosis of PC-3 and LNCaP by downregulating Bcl2 expression	[20, 21, 34–37]
(f)	Phenol	N-butylbenzene-sulfonamide		PC-3-AR AR	Showed antiandrogenic activity, decreased the cell proliferation of PC-3-AR, and inhibited AR translocation to the cell nucleus	[9, 32, 38, 39]
(g)	Sterols	β-sitosterol		LNCaP	Exhibited cytotoxicity and apoptosis and suppressed the production of prostaglandins	[2, 15, 20, 24, 31, 40–43]
(h)	Fatty acid	Lauric acid		LNCaP	Inhibited 5-α-reductase enzyme thus preventing formation of dihydrotestosterone, the modulator of prostate growth	[44–46]

Molecular structure source: https://en.wikipedia.org/.
PC-3: human prostate cancer cell lines. LNCaP: lymph node carcinoma of prostate cell line. BCL-2: B-cell lymphoma 2 protein, which regulates cell death (apoptosis). DU145: a cell line of prostatic cancer derived from brain metastasis. PI3K/Akt: phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B, which regulates multiple biological processes including cell survival, proliferation, growth, and glycogen metabolism. AMPK: 5′ adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase, an enzyme that plays a role in cellular energy homeostasis. AR: androgen receptor which translocates androgen hormones to the nucleus. PC-3-AR: Human prostate cancer cell lines that expressed the androgen receptor.