3,3'-Diindolylmethane (DIM) decrease adhesion, migration and invasion in human prostate cancer cells

Abstract

Indole 3-carbinol (I3C), important component of cruciferous vegetables and its major acid-catalyzed metabolite, 3,3'-diindolylmethane (DIM) have been suggested to have an inhibitory effect on the tumor growth and metastasis. This study investigated the effect of DIM on the adhesion, migration and invasion of highly invasive PC3 and DU145 human prostate cancer cell lines. Cells were grown in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) supplemented with 3.0 g/L glucose, 3.7 g/L sodium bicarbonate and 10% fetal bovine and were incubated in a humidified incubator at 37°C and 5% CO2. DIM reduced the adhesion of PC3 and DU145 cells in a dose dependent manner. The pretreatment of PC3 cells with DIM reduced the adhesion dose dependantly, but inhibition was less effective than the treatment with DIM during the adhesion assay. The migration and invasion of PC3 and DU145 cells were reduced by DIM dose dependantly, and the inhibition of DIM was less effective in the DU145 cells than in the PC3 cells. The pretreatment of PC3 cells with DIM for 24 hr before the assay reduced invasion of PC3 cells by 37%. These results suggest that DIM inhibits adhesion, migration and invasion of the PC3 and DU145 cells and may be an effective antimetastatic therapy in addition to traditional chemotherapy.