Introduction:Many bioactive phytochemicals have essential significance for handling various diseases
and developing new drugs. The aim was to investigate the anti-tumor activity and the underlying mechanisms of
pistachio pericarp extract (PPE) and pistachio kernel extract (PKE) alone and combined with cisplatin (CP) in the
treatment of prostate cancer.Methods:fThe effects of the PPE, PKE, and CP alone and PPE and PKE in combination with CP (PPE+CP and
PKE+CP) on the proliferation of PC-3 cells were determined using the MTT assay. The fold changes of BAX,
BCL-2, P53, KLK2, TNF, TGF, and NANOG expression against β-actin were determined by real-time technique.
Data were analyzed by two-way ANOVA and repeated measure tests.Results:These research results indicated that a greater anti-proliferative effect of the PPE and PKE was shown in
combination with CP compared with treatments using the PPE and PKE or CP alone. The extracts and Cisplatin
in vitro had good synergistic effects on the inhibition of the proliferation of PC-3 cells. The IC50 values of
PKE+CP were 4.141, 2.140, and 0.884 ug/mL, and PPE+CP were 2.754, 2.061, and 0.753 ug/mL after 24 h, 48 h,
and 72h treatment, respectively. Also, this result presented that the mRNA expression of BAX and P53 increased,
and BCL-2, KLK2, TNF, TGF, and NANOG decreased in PC-3 cells.Conclusions:The finding of this research showed for the first time the anti-carcinogenesis effects of separately
and in the combination of PPE, PKE, and CP on the PC-3 prostate cancer cells via modulating some genes and
that it may be nominated for the herbal anti-cancer medications.