Purple corn color inhibition of prostate carcinogenesis by targeting cell growth pathways

Purple corn color is a widely used food colorant that was reported to have attenuating effects on hypertension, diabetes, and to have anti‐cancer effects on colon and breast cancer. Our study is the first on its possible chemoprevention effects against prostate cancer. For this purpose an androgen‐dependent prostate cancer cell line, LNCaP, was used to examine effects in vitro. Purple corn color inhibited the proliferation of LNCaP cells by decreasing the expression of Cyclin D1 and inhibiting the G1 stage of the cell cycle. Thirty‐six male transgenic rats for adenocarcinoma of prostate were fed basic diet or diet with purple corn color for 8 weeks. Purple corn color decreased the incidence of adenocarcinoma in the lateral prostate and slowed down the progression of prostate cancer. A lower Ki67 positive rate, a decrease of the expression of Cyclin D1, and downregulation of the activation of Erk1/2 and p38 MAPK were observed in the group consuming purple corn color in the diet. Since purple corn color is a mixture, determining its active component should help in the understanding and usage of purple corn color for prostate cancer chemoprevention. Therefore, the three major anthocyanins in purple corn color, cyanidin‐3‐glucoside, pelargonidin‐3‐glucoside and peonidin‐3‐glucoside, were tested with LNCaP cells. The results suggested that cyanidin‐3‐glucoside and pelargonidin‐3‐glucoside are the active compounds.