Abstract
A recent study showed that antlers have evolved a high rate of growth due to the expression of proto-oncogenes and that they have also evolved to express several tumour suppressor genes to control the risk of cancer. This may explain why deer antler velvet (DAV) extract shows anti-tumour activity. The fast growth of antler innervation through the velvet in close association to blood vessels provides a unique environment to study the fast but non-cancerous proliferation of heterogeneous cell populations. We set out to study the anti-cancer effect of DAV in glioblastoma (GB) cell lines in comparison with temozolomide, a chemotherapeutic drug used to treat high-grade brain tumours. Here we report, for the first time, that DAV extract from the tip, but not from mid-parts of the antler, exhibits an anti-tumour effect in GB cell lines (T98G and A172) while being non-toxic in non-cancerous cell lines (HEK293 and HACAT). In T98G cells, DAV treatment showed reduced proliferation (37.5%) and colony-formation capacity (84%), inhibited migration (39%), induced changes in cell cycle progression, and promoted apoptosis. The anticancer activity of DAV extract as demonstrated by these results may provide a new therapeutic strategy for GB treatment.
Highlights
A recent study showed that antlers have evolved a high rate of growth due to the expression of proto-oncogenes and that they have evolved to express several tumour suppressor genes to control the risk of cancer
No differences were observed following 24 h treatment at 1 mg/mL deer antler velvet (DAV) extract in T98G cells. These results showed that DAV extract could induce both early and late apoptosis in T98G cells at 72 h
Our results suggest that a small induction of cell apoptosis may at least partially explain the anti-tumor effects of DAV extract against T98G cells
Summary
A recent study showed that antlers have evolved a high rate of growth due to the expression of proto-oncogenes and that they have evolved to express several tumour suppressor genes to control the risk of cancer This may explain why deer antler velvet (DAV) extract shows anti-tumour activity. The cell growth regulators required for controlled rapid antler regeneration may be active in deer antler velvet (DAV) extract, thereby reducing tumour formation in human or mouse models[10, 11] This may be one of the reasons behind the use of DAV in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for over 2000 years where a variety of therapeutical properties have been claimed, including anti-cancer effects, improvement of the immune system, physical strength, and Scientific Reports | (2021) 11:42. The study of the anti-tumour effects may identify potential targets and processes for the development of pharmaceutical products in the longer term
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