Ulinastatin ameliorates the malignant progression of prostate cancer cells by blocking the RhoA/ROCK/NLRP3 pathway

Prostate cancer is a male malignant tumor disease with high incidence and mortality. This study was designed to explore the effects of ulinastatin (UTI) on the malignant progression of prostate cancer and its relevant mechanism of action. Human prostate cancer cell line PC-3 was applied to investigate the anticancer activity of UTI. PC-3 cells were treated with increasing concentrations (400, 800, and 1600 U/ml) of UTI. Cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis were determined by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), colony formation, wound-healing, Transwell assay, and flow cytometry analysis, respectively. The expression level of corresponding proteins was detected by western blot. In addition, PC-3 cells were pretreated with RhoA agonist CN03 (1 μg/ml) or NLRP3 agonist nigericin (10 μM) before UTI treatment, and the cellular behaviors above were detected again. It was demonstrated that UTI significantly suppressed cell proliferation, migration, and invasion but promoted apoptosis in PC-3 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. Meanwhile, UTI could block RhoA/ROCK/NLRP3 inflammasome pathway in PC-3 cells, and the activation of RhoA or NLRP3 inflammasome partly weakened the impacts of UTI on cell proliferation, migration, and apoptosis in PC-3 cells, respectively. In summary, our study demonstrated the antitumor activity of UTI against prostate cancer by regulating RhoA/NLRP3 inflammasome pathway, providing a promising candidate drug for the therapeutic treatment of prostate cancer.