Abstract 5086: Acetyl-L-carnitine (ALCAR) inhibits angiogenesis, migration and macrophage recruitment in prostatic cancer cells

Many efforts have been addressed on the identification of novel active compounds from natural sources, endowed with anti-proliferative, anti-oxidant, chemopreventive properties, and their ability to target the tumour microenvironment (TME). Through metabolomics approaches we previously found that in serum samples from prostate cancer (PCa) patients, three carnitinefamily members were significantly decreased, suggesting a potential protective role of carnitineagainst PCa. Acetyl-L-carnitine(ALCAR) is an aceticacid ester of carnitinewith high bioavailability and is involved in the transportof fatty acids across the inner mitochondrial membrane. We have showed that ALCAR was able reduce angiogenesis in vitro, acting on the VEGF/VEGFR2 and CXCR4/CXCL12 axes. We also found that ALCAR inhibits inflammatory angiogenesis in vivo, by reducing endothelial cells and macrophage recruitment in the matrigel plugs. Here we investigated the ability of ALCAR to interfere with key functional steps of prostate carcinogenesis and identified the molecular mechanisms involved. The effects of ALCAR on PCa cells were investigated in vitro by functional assays (adhesion, migration and invasion assays), molecular and biochemical approaches (RT-PCR, FACS, Byoplex and western blot). We found that ALCAR reduces apoptosis on PCa cells (PC3, Du-145, LNcap) and inhibits crucial tumorigenic steps such as adhesion, migration and invasion. We than confirmed the results from functional assays at molecular levels, and we found that ALCAR blocks CXCR4/CXCL12 axes, a key regulator of malignant migratory/aggressive phenotype. In accordance with our published paper, we confirmed the anti-angiogenic and ant-inflammatory properties of ALCAR, that we found to lower VEGF and CXCL8 production in PCa cell lines. Furthermore, we found a significantly reduced expression of inflammatory-related chemokines/cytokines involved macrophage recruitment such as CCL2, IL-6 and TNFα in PCa cells. Our results highlight the angio/chemopreventive and anti-inflammatory properties of ALCAR and allow the identification of multiple and overlapping mechanisms of action through which ALCAR inhibits PCa progression / metastasis. Our findings provide the rational for the employment of ALCAR, as a possible supplement for approaches of chemoprevention in subjects at high risk to develop cancer. Citation Format: Adriana Albini, Antonino Bruno, Denisa Baci, Matteo Gallazzi, Matilde Tramacere. Acetyl-L-carnitine(ALCAR) inhibits angiogenesis, migration and macrophage recruitment in prostatic cancer cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5086.