Anticancer effect of curcumin inhibits cell growth through miR-21/PTEN/Akt pathway in breast cancer cell

Wang,Xinzheng; Hang,Yakai; Liu,Jinbiao; Hou,Yongqiang; Wang,Ning; Wang,Mingjun

doi:10.3892/ol.2017.6053

Anticancer effect of curcumin inhibits cell growth through miR-21/PTEN/Akt pathway in breast cancer cell

Authors:
- Xinzheng Wang
- Yakai Hang
- Jinbiao Liu
- Yongqiang Hou
- Ning Wang
- Mingjun Wang
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Affiliations: Department III of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang, Henan 471000, P.R. China, Department of General Surgery, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, P.R. China
Published online on: April 20, 2017 https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2017.6053
Pages: 4825-4831
Copyright: © Wang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Curcumin is a polyphenol extracted from turmeric, which that belongs to the Zingiberaceae family. Curcumin has numerous effects, including anti-inflammatory, antitumor, anti‑oxidative and antimicrobial effects. However, the effects of curcumin on human breast cancer cells remain largely unknown. The aim of the present study was to investigate the anticancer effects and the mechanisms by which curcumin affects breast cancer cells. The anticancer effect of curcumin on cell viability and cytotoxicity on human breast cancer MCF‑7 cells was analyzed using 3‑(4,5‑dimethyl‑2‑thiazolyl)‑2, 5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide and lactate dehydrogenase assays, respectively. Cell apoptosis of MCF‑7 cells was detected using flow cytometry, 4',6‑diamidino‑2‑phenylindolestaining assay and caspase‑3/9 activity kits. Reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to analyze microRNA‑21 (miR‑21) expression in MCF‑7 cells. The protein expression of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) and phospho‑protein kinase B (pAkt) was determined by western blot analysis. miR‑21 was transfected into MCF‑7 cells and the anticancer effect of curcumin on cell viability and the expression of PTEN and pAkt was analyzed. The present results demonstrated that curcumin inhibited cell viability and induced cytotoxicity of MCF‑7 cells in a concentration‑ and time‑dependent manner, by inducing apoptosis and increasing caspase‑3/9 activities. In addition, curcumin downregulated miR‑21 expression in MCF‑7 cells by upregulating the PTEN/Akt signaling pathway. The present study has for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, revealed the anticancer effect of curcumin in suppressing breast cancer cell growth, and has elucidated that the miR-21/PTEN/Akt signaling pathway is a key mechanism for the anticancer effects of curcumin.

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