Open Access

ARTICLE

Curcumin Enhances the Effects of 5-Fluorouracil and Oxaliplatin in Inducing Gastric Cancer Cell Apoptosis Both In Vitro and In Vivo

Xiang Zhou^*1, Weiming Wang^†1, Pihong Li^*, Zhiqiang Zheng^*, Yangyang Tu^*, Yi Zhang^*, Tao You^*

* Department of Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China
† Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China

Oncology Research 2015, 23(1-2), 29-34. https://doi.org/10.3727/096504015X14452563486011

Abstract

Despite the efficacy of fluoropyrimidines and oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy for patients, this treatment leads to significant patient inconvenience, toxicity, and cost. This study aims to validate a nontoxic agent, curcumin, to the current chemotherapeutic regimen. In in vitro experiments, curcumin induced apoptosis in gastric cancer cell line BGC-823. Synergistic antitumor effects of curcumin were observed in combination with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and oxaliplatin. These effects were accompanied by downregulation of the expression of Bcl-2 protein and mRNA and upregulation of the expression of Bax and caspase 3, 8, and 9. In addition, the in vivo study showed that the combination of curcumin and 5-FU/oxaliplatin exhibited potent growth inhibition of BGC-823 xenograft tumors. Furthermore, compared with the control group, no significant difference was observed in the body weight of curcumintreated nude mice. In conclusion, curcumin may act synergistically with the chemotherapeutic regimen FOLFOX in gastric cancer in vitro and in vivo by inducing apoptosis via Bcl/Bax–caspase 8,9–caspase 3 pathway.

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