title: Curdione inhibits proliferation of MCF-7 cells by inducing apoptosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Curdione, one of the major components of Curcuma zedoaria, has been reported to possess various biological activities. It thus might be a candidate anti-flammatory and cancer chemopreventive agent. However, the precise molecular mechanisms of action of curdione on cancer cells are still unclear. In this study, we investigated the effect of curdione on breast cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Xenograft nude mice were used to detect the effect of curdione on breast cancer in vivo; we also tested the effect of curdione on breast cancer in vitro by MTT, Flow cytometry, JC-I assay, and western blot.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Firstly, we found that curdione significantly suppressed tumor growth in a xenograft nude mouse breast tumor model in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, curdione treatment inhibited cell proliferation and induced cell apoptosis. Moreover, after curdione treatment, increase of impaired mitochondrial membrane potential occurred in a concentration dependent manner. Furthermore, the expression of apoptosis-related proteins including cleaved caspase-3, caspase-9 and Bax was increased in curdione treatment groups, while the expression of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 was decreased. Inhibitors of caspase-3 were used to confirm that curdione induced apoptosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall, our observations first suggested that curdione inhibited the proliferation of breast cancer cells by inducing apoptosis. These results might provide some molecular basis for the anti-cancer activity of curdione.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China E-mail : tianyr1@163.com.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wei-He
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Bian
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Ji-Rong
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhao-Xia
authors.initials: ZX
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Qun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Ke-Ming
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D020169:Caspases / Q000378:metabolism; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D061986:MCF-7 Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D053078:Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial / Q000187:drug effects; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000378:metabolism; D045788:Sesquiterpenes, Germacrane / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D023041:Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D045788:Sesquiterpenes, Germacrane; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein; C504126:curdione; D020169:Caspases