Investigation of the chemopreventive effects of docetaxel, glutamine and selenium combination on prostate cancer cell lines

Prostate cancer is an important cancer type with its high incidence rate in developing countries. Docetaxel is a quite toxic antineoplastic agent. In this study, anticancer efficiency of glutamine and selenium combination with docetaxel treatment was investigated on androgen receptor-negative prostate cancer cell lines, DU-145 and PC-3. For this purpose, cytotoxicity assays were carried out to determine preventive effects and the efficient doses of docetaxel, selenium and glutamine on PC-3 and DU-145 cells. Then, cell cycle and apoptosis analyses were performed using flow cytometry with the treatment of effective doses at various combinations to the cells.As a result, glutamine and selenium increased apoptosis of prostate cancer cell lines. Glutamine and selenium supplemented docetaxel decreased the ratio of necrotic cell death. Furthermore, combination of selenium and glutamine to docetaxel did not change the effect of docetaxel on cell cycle arrests on PC-3 cells. Harmful effects of docetaxel on cellular level decreased on DU-145 cells when docetaxel was combined with selenium and glutamine and damaged cells arrest at stage of G0/G1 and G2+M was determined.It was observed that anticancer effects were increased with glutamine and selenium addition to docetaxel treatment moreover, cytotoxic effects of docetaxel decreased on hormonotherapy-resistant, metastatic prostat cancer cells. These result indicate that glutamine and selenium may have a significant role of contribution to standard docetaxel treatment of prostate cancer.