ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the effect of hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF) on apoptosis of colorectal cancer cells induced with curcumin. Methods MTT assay was used to evaluate the cytotoxicity of curcumin to colorectal cancer cells. Flow cytometry was used to detect the anti-apoptosis effect of HGF. Results Flow cytometry showed only 64 ?g/ml curcumin could play the proliferation-inhibiting role in Caco-2 cells leading to their apoptosis; at the same time, different concentrations of HGF could antagonize this inhibitory effect resulting in the decrease of apoptosis, but HGF worked without a concentration-dependent manner. The study on MAPK pathway showed that the protective effect of HGF on the apoptosis of Caco-2 cells was not influenced by inhibiting p42/p44 MAPK and p38 MAPK pathway. Conclusion HGF/SF antagonizes the apoptosis of Caco-2 cells induced with curcumin, but MAPK signaling pathway might not participate in this process.