TY - JOUR AB - Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare form of cancer that is associated with asbestos exposure. Unfortunately, current therapies have limited efficacy. Previous studies have indicated that curcumin exerts antiproliferative and antitumor effects, and has low toxicity. The present study aimed to evaluate the anticancer effects of curcumin on the RN5 MPM cell line. The inhibitory effects of curcumin on cell viability were determined using the sulforhodamine B assay. In addition, cell cycle progression was analyzed by propidium iodide (PI) staining and flow cytometry, and curcumin‑induced apoptosis was measured by Annexin V/PI double staining. The translocation of apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) was assessed by western blotting and immunofluorescence, and the expression levels of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-AKT serine/threonine kinase (Akt)‑mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway proteins and mitochondria-associated proteins were evaluated by western blotting. In vivo antitumor effects were evaluated in a subcutaneous murine model. Briefly, tumors were harvested from the mice, and immunohistochemistry was conducted to evaluate cell proliferation, apoptosis and angiogenesis. The results indicated that curcumin inhibited RN5 cell viability and induced apoptotic cell death. In addition the findings suggested that curcumin-induced cell apoptosis occurred via the mitochondrial pathway, and caspase‑independent and AIF-dependent pathways. Further analysis revealed that curcumin may act as a PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling pathway inhibitor by downregulating PI3K, p-Akt, p-mTOR and p-p70 ribosomal protein S6 kinase. Furthermore, curcumin inhibited tumor angiogenesis in vivo. In conclusion, curcumin may be potent enough to be developed as a novel therapeutic agent for the treatment of MPM. AD - Department of Thoracic Surgery, The Second Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250033, P.R. China Gene and Immunotherapy Center, The Second Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250033, P.R. China Latner Thoracic Surgery Research Laboratories and Division of Thoracic Surgery, Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 2C4, Canada AU - Zhang,Chengke AU - Hao,Yingtao AU - Wu,Licun AU - Dong,Xiaopeng AU - Jiang,Ning AU - Cong,Bo AU - Liu,Jiang AU - Zhang,Wen AU - Tang,Dongqi AU - De Perrot,Marc AU - Zhao,Xiaogang DA - 2018/12/01 DO - 10.3892/ijo.2018.4569 EP - 2541 IS - 6 JO - Int J Oncol KW - curcumin malignant pleural mesothelioma apoptosis apoptosis-inducing factor phosphoinositide 3-kinase-AKT serine/threonine kinase-mammalian target of rapamycin PY - 2018 SN - 1019-6439 1791-2423 SP - 2531 ST - Curcumin induces apoptosis and inhibits angiogenesis in murine malignant mesothelioma T2 - International Journal of Oncology TI - Curcumin induces apoptosis and inhibits angiogenesis in murine malignant mesothelioma UR - https://doi.org/10.3892/ijo.2018.4569 VL - 53 ER -