Rare sugar D-allose induces programmed cell death in hormone refractory prostate cancer cells.

Development of effective agents for treatment of hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) has become a national medical priority. D-Allose is a monosaccharide (C-3 epimer of glucose) distributed rarely in nature; because of its scarcity and cost, the biological effect has hardly been studied. In the present study, we demonstrated the inhibitory action of D-allose on proliferation of human HRPC cell lines, DU145 and PC-3 in a dose- and time-dependent manner, while human normal prostate epithelial (NPE) cell line, PrEC showed no remarkable effect. In vitro treatment of D-allose resulted in the alteration of Bcl-2/Bax ratio in favor of apoptosis (programmed cell death, PCD) in both the HRPC cell lines, which was associated with the lowering of mitochondrial transmembrane potential (Deltapsi(m)) and the release of cytochrome C (cyt C), the cleavage of caspase 3 and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), and the elevation of calcium concentration in cytosol ([Ca(2+)](c)). D-Allose also induced G1 phase arrest of the cell cycle in DU145 cell line. This study for the first time suggested the antiproliferative effect of D-allose through induction of PCD in HRPC cell lines, which could be due to the modulation of mitochondria mediated intrinsic apoptotic pathway.