β-Boswellic Acid Suppresses Migration and Invasion and Attenuates TGF-β1-Induced EMT-Related Changes in PC-3 Prostate Cancer Cells

β-Boswellic acid (BA) has potential antitumor activity, but its effects on migration, invasion, and epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related phenotypes in prostate cancer cells remain unclear. In this study, we integrated public transcriptomic data, candidate molecule prediction, machine learning, functional association analysis, and molecular simulations with MTT, wound-healing, Transwell, qPCR, Western blotting, transcriptomic analysis, and data-independent acquisition proteomics to evaluate BA effects on PC-3 cells and explore its potential molecular basis. We identified 22 candidate BA-related molecules and prioritised DPP4, MME, and ABL1 for further analysis. Higher BA concentrations reduced PC-3 cell viability. At the same time, BA suppressed wound closure, migration, and invasion and attenuated TGF-β1-induced EMT-related changes, accompanied by increased E-cadherin and decreased N-cadherin, Snail, and ZEB1 levels. DPP4, MME, and ABL1 also exhibited BA-associated expression changes. Integrated transcriptomic and proteomic analyses suggested that BA-associated molecular alterations involved the cell cycle, DNA replication, cell adhesion, cytoskeletal remodelling, and TGF-β-related processes. In conclusion, BA suppresses migration and invasion in PC-3 cells and attenuates TGF-β1-induced EMT-related changes. Candidate molecules including DPP4, MME, and ABL1, together with the multi-omics findings, provide exploratory clues for further investigation of the potential molecular basis of BA activity.

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Publication Details

Journal
Current Issues in Molecular Biology
Published
2026-10-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/cimb48101069
Primary Topic
Pharmacological Effects of Medicinal Plants
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

β-Boswellic Acid Suppresses Migration and Invasion and Attenuates TGF-β1-Induced EMT-Related Changes in PC-3 Prostate Cancer Cells

Kaixin Song, Zihan Yang, Jiale Wang, Sian Pan et al.
Current Issues in Molecular Biology
Pharmacological Effects of Medicinal Plants
article

β-Boswellic Acid Suppresses Migration and Invasion and Attenuates TGF-β1-Induced EMT-Related Changes in PC-3 Prostate Cancer Cells

Kaixin Song, Zihan Yang, Jiale Wang, Sian Pan, Sijie He, Lixi Zhu, Xiaohui Geng, Zhirong Tan, Kunpeng Zang
article en

Abstract

β-Boswellic acid (BA) has potential antitumor activity, but its effects on migration, invasion, and epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related phenotypes in prostate cancer cells remain unclear. In this study, we integrated public transcriptomic data, candidate molecule prediction, machine learning, functional association analysis, and molecular simulations with MTT, wound-healing, Transwell, qPCR, Western blotting, transcriptomic analysis, and data-independent acquisition proteomics to evaluate BA effects on PC-3 cells and explore its potential molecular basis. We identified 22 candidate BA-related molecules and prioritised DPP4, MME, and ABL1 for further analysis. Higher BA concentrations reduced PC-3 cell viability. At the same time, BA suppressed wound closure, migration, and invasion and attenuated TGF-β1-induced EMT-related changes, accompanied by increased E-cadherin and decreased N-cadherin, Snail, and ZEB1 levels. DPP4, MME, and ABL1 also exhibited BA-associated expression changes. Integrated transcriptomic and proteomic analyses suggested that BA-associated molecular alterations involved the cell cycle, DNA replication, cell adhesion, cytoskeletal remodelling, and TGF-β-related processes. In conclusion, BA suppresses migration and invasion in PC-3 cells and attenuates TGF-β1-induced EMT-related changes. Candidate molecules including DPP4, MME, and ABL1, together with the multi-omics findings, provide exploratory clues for further investigation of the potential molecular basis of BA activity.

Current Issues in Molecular BiologyVol. 48(10)
Hunan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CN)
China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
Good health and well-being
Openalex Percentile: Top 14%
Pharmacological Effects of Medicinal Plants
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