[Inhibitory effects of curcumin on apoptosis of human ovary cancer cell line A2780 and its molecular mechanism]

Abstract

Background & objective: Curcumin is the major effective component of curcuma, which is a kind of traditional Chinese medicine. It has been paid more attention to curcumin recently for its specific proliferation inhibition and apoptosis inducing effects on tumor cells; however, the involved mechanisms were not clear. This study was designed to explore the apoptosis inducing effects of curcumin on human ovary A2780 cell line and its related molecular mechanisms.

Methods: A2780 cancer cells were treated with 10-50 mumol/L curcumin for 6-24 h and the growth inhibition rates of A2780 cancer cells were measured by MTT method. Cell apoptosis was inspected by flow cytometry (FCM) and acridine orange-ethidium bromide fluorescent staining method. The protein levels of NF-kappa B (P65) and Caspase-3 in cancer cells were observed by SP immunohistochemistry.

Results: The growth inhibition rates of the cancer cells reached 62.05%-89.24%, with the peak of sub G1 appeared on DNA histogram in FCM. Partial cells presented the characteristic morphological changes of apoptosis under the fluorescent microscope; the apoptosis rates were 21.5%-33.5%. The NF-kappa B (p65) expression was decreased while Caspase-3 expression was increased, which depended on the action time.

Conclusions: Curcumin could significantly inhibit the growth of ovary cancer cells; inducing apoptosis through up-regulating Caspase-3 and down-regulating expression of NF-kappa B was probably one of its molecular mechanisms.