Open AccessEffect of curcumin on the viability of SKOV3 cells and its probable mechanism of action
Author(s) -
Dan Wang,
Xu Cheng,
Feifei Zhang,
Zeng Bao-Jin
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
tropical journal of pharmaceutical research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.209
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1596-5996
pISSN - 1596-9827
DOI - 10.4314/tjpr.v20i4.15
Subject(s) - curcumin , viability assay , apoptosis , chemistry , downregulation and upregulation , mtt assay , blot , cell , microbiology and biotechnology , cell growth , mechanism of action , caspase 3 , pharmacology , gene , cancer research , biology , biochemistry , in vitro , programmed cell death
Purpose: To study the influence of curcumin on the survival of SKOV3 cells and the potential molecular mechanism of action.
Methods: SKOV3 cell proliferation was measured using MTT assay. Gene expression levels were assayed using QRT-PCR assay, while protein expression was determined with western blotting.
Results: Cell viability was reduced by curcumin at doses of 20, 40 and 80 μM (p < 0.05) in a dose-based fashion. Protein expression levels of Bax, caspase-3 and caspase-9 were upregulated by curcumin, while Bcl-2 protein level was downregulated (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: These results demonstrate that curcumin inhibits cell proliferation by promoting the protein expressions of pro-apoptotic genes (Bax, caspase-3 and caspase-9) while suppressing Bcl-2 protein level. Therefore, curcumin might be a novel alternative therapy for ovarian cancer.