Anticancer activities of curcumin on human Burkitt's lymphoma.

OBJECTIVE

To study the anticancer activities of curcumin on human Burkitt's lymphoma and their molecular mechanism.

METHODS

The effect of curcumin on the growth of CA46 cells and apoptosis were studied through Trypan blue exclusion, MTT assay, cell cycle, DNA fragmentation analysis and detection of TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL). The effect of curcumin on the expression of c-myc, bcl-2, mutant-type p53 and Fas protein and mRNA was studied by flow cytometry (FCM) and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

RESULTS

1. Curcumin inhibited proliferation of CA46 cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner, 2. CA46 cells treated with curcumin showed G(0)/G(1) or G(2)/M phase increase and S phase decrease, 3. CA46 cells apoptosis induced by curcumin was confirmed by DNA fragmentation and TUNEL and 4. The expression of c-myc, bcl-2, mutant-type p53 protein and mRNA was decreased sharply in CA46 cells treated with curcumin, while Fas protein and mRNA was increased.

CONCLUSION

Curcumin is able to inhibit the proliferation of CA46 cells and induce the cell apoptosis by down-regulating the expression of c-myc, bcl-2, mutant-type p53 and up-regulating the expression of Fas.