title: Ras/ERK signaling pathway is involved in curcumin-induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human gastric carcinoma AGS cells.
abstract: Curcumin, the biologically active compound from the rhizome of Curcuma longa, could inhibit cell growth and induce apoptosis in gastric carcinoma. However, the underlying mechanism of curcumin on gastric carcinoma cells still needs further investigation. In this study, morphological observation indicated that curcumin inhibited the proliferation of AGS cells in a dose-dependent manner. According to the flow cytometric analysis, curcumin treatment resulted in G2/M arrest in AGS cells, accompanied with an increased expression of cyclin B1 and a decreased expression of cyclin D1. In addition, DNA ladders were observed by gel electrophoresis. Meanwhile, the activities of caspase-3, -8, and -9 were also enhanced in curcumin-treated AGS cells. Nevertheless, the increased activities could be inhibited by benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp (OME)-fluoromethylketone (z-VAD-fmk), which suggested that the apoptosis was caspase-dependent. Furthermore, downregulation of rat sarcoma (Ras) and upregulation of extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK) were also observed in AGS cells treated with curcumin by Western blot. U0126, an ERK inhibitor, blocked curcumin-induced apoptosis. The results suggested that curcumin inhibited the growth of the AGS cells and induced apoptosis through the activation of Ras/ERK signaling pathway and downstream caspase cascade, and curcumin might be a potential target for the treatment of gastric carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Clinical Laboratories , Experimental Center, Putuo Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine , Shanghai 200062 , China.
authors.forename: Ai-Li
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Qing-Feng
authors.initials: QF
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Wen-Chao
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Yan-Yan
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Song-Jiao
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Pei-Hao
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Yin
mesh_terms: D000590:Amino Acid Chloromethyl Ketones / Q000737:chemistry; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism; D020169:Caspases / Q000378:metabolism; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000187:drug effects; D059447:Cell Cycle Checkpoints / Q000187:drug effects; D030024:Curcuma / Q000737:chemistry; D003474:Curcumin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D048049:Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D015394:Molecular Structure; D009842:Oligopeptides; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D000590:Amino Acid Chloromethyl Ketones; D009842:Oligopeptides; C517629:benzyloxycarbonyl-valyl-alanyl-aspartic acid; C096713:benzyloxycarbonylvalyl-alanyl-aspartyl fluoromethyl ketone; D048049:Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases; D053148:Caspase 3; D020169:Caspases; D003474:Curcumin
keywords: Ras/ERK; apoptosis; cell cycle; curcumin; gastric carcinoma