Curcumin induces glioma stem-like cell formation

Neuroreport. 2015 Feb 11;26(3):167-72. doi: 10.1097/WNR.0000000000000320.

Abstract

In recent times, dozens of articles have been rushing to report the excellent performance of curcumin in inhibiting the proliferation of glioma cells and in inducing apoptosis and autophagy. However, in this study, we found that curcumin could not only effectively inhibit the proliferation of glioma cells but also induce glioma cells to be stem-like, which showed that it caused some glioma cells to form spheres with CD133 and Nestin positive markers. Further research on its underlying mechanism showed that curcumin suppressed transition of the cells from G1 to S phase and enhanced the expression of Sox4, Sox2, and Oct4, which were essential to retain the stemness properties of glioma-initiating cells. In conclusion, we believe these findings can complement our knowledge on curcumin and arouse our attention to use curcumin for further research on glioma treatment.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology
  • Cell Dedifferentiation*
  • Cell Proliferation / drug effects
  • Cell Survival / drug effects
  • Curcumin / pharmacology*
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
  • Glioma / drug therapy
  • Glioma / physiopathology*
  • Humans
  • Interphase / drug effects
  • Neoplastic Stem Cells / drug effects*
  • Neoplastic Stem Cells / physiology*
  • Octamer Transcription Factor-3 / metabolism
  • SOXB1 Transcription Factors / metabolism
  • SOXC Transcription Factors / metabolism
  • Tumor Cells, Cultured

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Octamer Transcription Factor-3
  • POU5F1 protein, human
  • SOX2 protein, human
  • SOX4 protein, human
  • SOXB1 Transcription Factors
  • SOXC Transcription Factors
  • Curcumin