Aim： To evaluate the antiproliferative activity of contragestazol （DL111-IT） on the human prostate cancer cell line PC3 in vitro and in vivo and to elucidate its potential molecular mechanisms. Methods： The cell killing ability of DL111-IT was measured by the 3-（4,5-dimethylthia-zol,2-yl）-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide （MTT） reagent assay method and the tumor xenograft model. The cell cycle was analyzed by flow cytometry and protein expression, including retinoblastoma （pRb）, cyclin-dependent kinase 4 （CDK4） and cyclin D 1, was detected by Western blotting. Results： DL111-IT exhibited high efficiency on cell growth inhibition of the human androgen-independent prostate cancer cell line PC3. The drug concentration that yielded 50 % cell inhibition （IC50 value） was 9.9 mg/mL. In the PC3 tumor xenograft study, DL111-IT （1.25 mg/kg-20.0 mg/kg） given once a day for 10 days significantly inhibited tumor growth, with the inhibition rate ranging from 21% to 50 %. Flow cytometric analysis indicated that DL111-IT could cause GI arrest in the PC3 cell line, but not apoptosis. DL111-IT enhanced pRb expression and down-regulated CDK4 and cyclin D 1 expression, suggesting that cell cycle regulation might contribute to the anticancer property of DL 111- IT. Conclusion： DL111-1T inhibits the proliferation of human androgen-independent prostate cancer cell line PC3 in vitro and in vivo by a cell cycle regulation pathway.
