Curcumin can inhibit the growth and programmed cell death in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) cells. - GreenMedInfo Summary
[Apoptosis of retinoic acid resistant NB4-R1 cells induced with curcumin and its mechanism].
Zhongguo Shi Yan Xue Ye Xue Za Zhi. 2010 Apr;18(2):340-3. PMID: 20416164
Department of Laboratorial Examination, The First Affiliated Hospitul, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China.
This study was purposed to explore the inhibitory effect of Curcumin on growth of retinoic acid-resistant acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) cells and its mechanism. The NB4-R1, an APL cell line resistant to retinoic acid, was used as a model. The growth level of NB4-R1 was detected by MTT assay, the morphologic features of cells were observed by light microscopy, the mitochondrial transmembrane potential was determined by flow cytometry, the expressions of apoptosis-related proteins procaspase 3, caspase 3, PARP and BCL-XL were measured by Western blot. The results indicated that the sensitivity of NB4-R1 to Curcumin was consistent with NB4 though NB4-R1 was resistant to retinoic acid, Curcumin displayed inhibitory effect on growth of NB4-R1 in time-and concentration-dependent manners. The morphologic observation showed existence of apoptotic bodies in NB4-R1 cells treated with 20 micromol/L of Curcumin. The flow cytometry indicated that the mitochondrial transmembrane potential in NB4-R1 cells treated with 20 micromol/L of Curcumin obviously decreased. The Western blot detection revealed that expressions of pro-caspase 3 and BCL-XL were down-regulated, expressions of caspase 3 and sheared PAPP were up-regulated in NB4-R1 cells treated with 20 micromol/L of Curcumin. It is concluded that the Curcumin can inhibit the growth and induce the apoptosis of NB4-R1.