Study on the mechanism of apoptosis of myelocytic leukemia cell lines induced by curcumin

Abstract

To investigate the mechanism of apoptosis of myelocytic leukemia lines NB4, K562 and THP-1 cells induced by curcumin. After the cells were treated with curcumin at different concentration (25, 12.5, 6.25, 3.125, 0 μmol/L) for various times (0, 12, 24, 48 h), flow cytometry (FCM) was used to determine the rate of apoptosis of cells. After the cells were treated with curcumin at 25 μmol/L for 24 h, flow cytometry was used to determine the expression level of Fas, and Western blot was performed to determine the expression of Caspase-8 and Caspase-9. (1) Curcumin could induced the apoptosis of NB4, K562 and THP-1 cells in a time-and dose-dependent manner. After the cells were treated with curcumin at 25 μmol/L for 48 h, the rate of apoptosis of cells was over fifty percent. (2) Fas level showed remarkable increase (P < 0.01) after above cells were treated with 25 μmol/L curcumin for 24 h. (3) The apoptosis proteins of Caspase-8 and Caspase-9 were also increased obviously (P < 0.01) after the cells were treated with 25 μmol/L curcumin for 24 h. The molecular pathway of apoptosis of myelocytic leukemia lines induced by curcumin are concerned with death receptor and mitochondria.