Background & Objective: Herbal medicine and their composition are widely used for different therapeutic purposes. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate of the anti-proliferation and anti-migration effects of Thymoquinone (TQ), an active part of Nigella sativa, on PC3 prostate cancer cells.
Materials & Methods: In this experimental study, PC3 prostate cancer cells were treated with 0, 10, 30, 50, 70 and 90 µM concentrations of thymoquinone for 12, 24 and 48 hours and cell viability was determined by MTT assay. IC50 concentration of thymoquinone was obtained as 40 µM concentration of thymoquinone and 24h incubation time. PC3 cell migration was studied using the cell migration assay. Colony formation assay was used to determine cell proliferation and Gimsa staining was performed to observe morphological changes of the cells.
Results: The IC50 of Thymoquinone was found in concentration of 40 µM at 24h treatment. Thymoquinone significantly (p<0.05) inhibited cell growth and proliferation as well as cell migration. Treatment of PC3 cells with 40 µM thymoquinone showed significant changes in nucleus and cytoplasm of the cells which are representative of apoptosis and cell death.
Conclusion: Thymoquinone has significant anti-proliferative and anti-migrative effects on prostate PC3 cells and therefore may be used as a complementary agent for prevention of prostate cancer.