03. The effect of natural products on the growth of docetaxel resistant androgen independent prostate cancer cells expressing cancer stem cell markers.

Abstract

Prostate cancer is the most common malignancy afflicting the lives of men worldwide. Prostate cancer has two stages, androgen dependent and androgen independent. In the androgen dependent stage, the prostate cancer can be treated by hormone depletion therapy. In androgen independent stage the hormone depletion therapy does not work. The only available treatment for androgen independent prostate cancer is FDA approved chemotherapy drug docetaxel. Patients initially respond to docetaxel and then they become resistant to it. The cells that are resistant to docetaxel express cancer stem cell markers and represent the population of cancer stem cells. The goal of this project will be to develop docetaxel resistant androgen independent prostate cancer cell lines. These resistant cell lines will then be treated with natural products like grapefruit, lemon peel, ashwagandha, turmeric, and ginger in the presence and absence of docetaxel. The cell death will be checked by MTT assay. This project will involve using the natural products which are well tolerated by human body for solving the problem of drug resistance in prostate cancer cells and developing an effective treatment for this deadly disease.