Open Access

Curcumin induced autophagy anticancer effects on human lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549

  • Authors:
    • Furong Liu
    • Song Gao
    • Yuxuan Yang
    • Xiaodan Zhao
    • Yameng Fan
    • Wenxia Ma
    • Danrong Yang
    • Aimin Yang
    • Yan Yu
  • View Affiliations

  • Published online on: July 8, 2017     https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2017.6565
  • Pages: 2775-2782
  • Copyright: © Liu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

To investigate the anticancer effects of curcumin‑induced autophagy and its effects on the human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cell line, inverted phase contrast microscopy was used to observe alterations to the cytomorphology of cells. An MTT assay was used to measure cell viability. Autophagy was detected using acridine orange (AO) staining and 3‑methyladenine (3‑MA) was used as an autophagy‑specific inhibitor. Dose‑ and time‑dependent A549 cell viability inhibition was observed following curcumin treatment. A dose‑dependent increase in the red fluorescent structures in A549 cells was identified following curcumin treatment for 48 h through AO staining. In addition, the activation of autophagy was determined through changes in the number of autophagic vesicles (AVs; fluorescent particles) infected with monodansylcadaverine (MDC). The fluorescence intensity and density of AVs in the curcumin‑treated groups were higher at 48 h compared with the control group. Finally, the MTT assay demonstrated that the survival rates of the curcumin‑treated cells were increased when pretreated with 3‑MA for 3 h, indicating that the inhibitory effect of curcumin on A549 cells is reduced following the inhibition of autophagy. Furthermore, AO and MDC staining confirmed that 3‑MA does inhibit the induction of autophagy. Thus, it was hypothesized that the induction of autophagy is partially involved in the reduction of cell viability observed following curcumin treatment. The anticancer effects of curcumin on A549 cells can be reduced using autophagy inhibitors. This suggests a possible cancer therapeutic application of curcumin through the activation of autophagy. These findings have improved the understanding of the mechanism underlying the anticancer property of curcumin.
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September-2017
Volume 14 Issue 3

Print ISSN: 1792-1074
Online ISSN:1792-1082

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Spandidos Publications style
Liu F, Gao S, Yang Y, Zhao X, Fan Y, Ma W, Yang D, Yang A and Yu Y: Curcumin induced autophagy anticancer effects on human lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549. Oncol Lett 14: 2775-2782, 2017
APA
Liu, F., Gao, S., Yang, Y., Zhao, X., Fan, Y., Ma, W. ... Yu, Y. (2017). Curcumin induced autophagy anticancer effects on human lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549. Oncology Letters, 14, 2775-2782. https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2017.6565
MLA
Liu, F., Gao, S., Yang, Y., Zhao, X., Fan, Y., Ma, W., Yang, D., Yang, A., Yu, Y."Curcumin induced autophagy anticancer effects on human lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549". Oncology Letters 14.3 (2017): 2775-2782.
Chicago
Liu, F., Gao, S., Yang, Y., Zhao, X., Fan, Y., Ma, W., Yang, D., Yang, A., Yu, Y."Curcumin induced autophagy anticancer effects on human lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549". Oncology Letters 14, no. 3 (2017): 2775-2782. https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2017.6565