Effects of Curcumin Combined with 5-Fluorouracil on Growth Inhibition and Apoptosis Induction in Gastric Cancer Cell Line MGC-803 / 世界科学技术-中医药现代化

ABSTRACT

This study was aimed to provide experimental evidence for clinical application of curcumin to strengthen the effect of 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) in gastric cancer treatment, so as to reduce the dose of 5-FU and its side-effect in the future treatment. MTT assay was used to detect medication effect on MGC-803 cell growth inhibition; AO/EB double staining fluorescence microscopic observation and FITC/PI double staining flow cytometry were used to detect medication effect on cell apoptosis. Flow cytometry was based on PI staining used to detect medication effect on MGC-803 cell cycle. The results showed that curcumin (25μmol·L-1) with low-dose (2.4μmol·L-1) and middle-dose (4.8μmol·L-1) 5-FU can effectively inhibit MGC-803 cell growth, induce cell apoptosis and block cell cycle in S phase. Which showed dose-time dependent manner. The combined use of curcumin with low-dose 5-FU was more effective than the middle-dose (4.8μmol·L-1) 5-FU alone (P < 0.01); similarly, the combined use of curcumin with middle-dose 5-FU was more effective than the use of high-dose (9.6μmol·L-1) 5-FU alone (P < 0.01). It indicated that curcumin can enhance the antitumor effect of 5-FU against MGC-803 cells in a dose-time dependent manner. It was concluded that the study provided a preliminary experimental basis for using curcumin as an adjuvant to 5-FU with the benefit of reducing its dose and toxicity in the clinical treatment of gastric cancer.