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.