Chinese Red Yeast Rice Inhibition of Prostate Tumor Growth in SCID Mice

Prostate cancer is a slowly developing but very common cancer in males that may be amenable to preventive strategies that are not toxic. Chinese red yeast rice (RYR), a food herb made by fermenting Monascus purpureus Went yeast on white rice, contains a mixture of eight different monacolins that inhibit cholesterogenesis in addition to red pigments with antioxidant properties. Monacolin K is identical to lovastatin (LV), but lovastatin unlike RYR can be used in individuals intolerant to statins due to muscle pain. Both LV and RYR inhibit de novo cholesterogenesis, which is critical to the growth of tumor cells. Long-term use of statin drugs has been associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer. We have previously shown that RYR inhibited androgen-dependent and AR-overexpressing androgen-independent prostate cancer cell proliferation in vitro. The present study was designed to determine whether RYR and LV inhibit prostate tumor growth in SCID mice. RYR significantly reduced tumor volumes of androgen-dependent and androgen-independent prostate xenograft tumors compared to animals receiving vehicle alone (P<0.05). Inhibition by RYR was greater than that observed with LV at the dose found in RYR demonstrating that other compounds in RYR contributed to the antiproliferative effect. There was a significant correlation of tumor volume to serum cholesterol (P<0.001). RYR decreased gene expression of androgen synthesizing enzymes (HSD3B2, AKR1C3 and SRD5A1) in both type of tumors (P<0.05). Clinical studies of RYR for prostate cancer prevention in the increasing population of men undergoing active surveillance should be considered.