In vivo potency evaluation
of DSARTC. (A) Tumor
growth curves of CWR22Rv1 xenografts in nude mice (n = 5 per group) are presented as the mean ± SD values. The drugs
were administered via intraperitoneal injection every 2 days for a
period of 2 weeks; ARTC, DSARTC, and enzalutamide were administered
at a dose of 10 mg/kg. Statistical analysis was performed using the t test, with ∗ indicating statistical significance
at p < 0.05. (B) The average weight of tumors
excised from each group of mice at the end of the drug treatment (n = 5) was analyzed using the t test, with
∗∗ indicating statistical significance at p < 0.01. (C) Photos of CWR22Rv1 tumors excised at the end of the
experiment after different drug treatments. (D) The excised tumors
from the control, free peptide, DSARTC, and enzalutamide groups were
subjected to the IHC assay for Ki-67 staining, a marker of tumor cell
growth, as well as for AR and AR-V7 staining, measuring the levels
of AR and AR-V7 protein in the tumor cells. The scale bar was set
to 73 μm. Statistical analysis of the IHC scores for AR and
AR-V7 (E) and Ki-67 (F) on CWR22Rv1 tumors was conducted after treatment
with different drugs. IHC intensity was scored as follows: 4 for highly
positive, 3 for positive, 2 for minimally positive, and 1 for negative.