A Milk Protein, Casein, as a Proliferation Promoting Factor in
Prostate Cancer Cells
Purpose
Despite most epidemiologic studies reporting that an increase in
milk intake affects the growth of prostate cancer, the results of
experimental studies are not consistent. In this study, we
investigated the proliferation of prostate cancer cells treated
with casein, the main protein in milk.
Results
α-Casein and total casein did not affect the proliferations of
RWPE1, HEK293, A459, SNU484, MCF7, HEK293, or RWPE1 cells. However,
PC3 cells treated with 1 mg/mL of α-casein and casein showed
increased proliferation (228% and 166%, respectively), and the
proliferation of LNCaP cells was also enhanced by 134% and 142%,
respectively. The proliferation mechanism of α-casein in PC3 and
LNCaP cells did not appear to be related to the induction of
Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), since the level of IGF-1 did
not change upon the supplementation of casein.
Conclusions
The milk protein, casein, promotes the proliferation of prostate
cancer cells such as PC3 and LNCaP.
