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The Effects of Curcumin-based Compounds on Proliferation and Cell Death in Cervical Cancer Cells.

By: Xiaojie Zhang, Rubing Wang, Guanglin Chen, Laurent Dejean, Qiao-Hong Chen

Department of Chemistry, California State University, Fresno, CA, U.S.A.
2015-9-27; doi:

Abstract

Aim

To systematically investigate the effects of a class of curcumin-based compounds on cancer cell viability, proliferation, and apoptosis.

Materials

Cytotoxicity and anti-proliferative potency were estimated by the trypan blue exclusion assay and WST-1 cell proliferation assay, respectively. Cell death pathways were discriminated according to plasma membrane integrity and lipid asymmetry cell profiles using a F2N12S and CYTOX AADvanced double staining flow cytometry-based assay.

Results

Nine compounds ( 2-10: ) exhibit 13- to 58-fold better cytotoxic and anti-proliferative potencies than curcumin towards HeLa cells. In this cervical cancer cell model, dienone and 1-methylpiperidone serve as the favorable central linkers; 5-methylisoxazol-3-yl and 3-methylisoxazol-5-yl act as the optimal terminal aromatic moiety. Finally, the effects of compounds 6: and 10: on HeLa cells' plasma membrane integrity and lipid asymmetry suggest that the early cytotoxic effect of these compounds is due to a stimulation of apoptosis.