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Curcumin-induced apoptosis in human leukemia cell HL-60 is associated with inhibition of telomerase activity

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Abstract

Curcumin (diferuloylmethane), a natural cancer chemopreventive compound, has been tested for its action in acute myeloblastic leukemia cell line HL-60. The results clearly show that curcumin induces apoptosis in these cells as evidenced by the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria to the cytosol and increase in the DNA content in sub G1 region as observed in FACS analysis. Apoptosis is apparently mediated by up-regulation of apoptotic gene bax and simultaneous down-regulation of anti-apoptotic gene bcl-2 followed by activation of caspases 3 and 8 and degradation of PARP. Telomerase, a reverse transcriptase, has been found to be activated in more than 80% of human cancers and, therefore, can be considered as a potential marker for tumorigenesis. Certain natural compounds have the potential of inhibiting telomerase activity leading to suppression of cell viability and induction of apoptosis. The present study shows that curcumin-induced apoptosis coincides with the inhibition of telomerase activity in a dose dependent manner.

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Acknowledgement

The authors are thankful to Director, Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute and Director, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics for providing all the infrastructural facility.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Carcinogenesis & Toxicology, Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute, 37, S.P. Mukherjee Road, Kolkata, 700 026, India

    Sutapa Mukherjee (nee Chakraborty), R. K. Bhattacharya & Madhumita Roy

  2. Unit of HPLC, Central Research Instrumentation Facility, Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute, 37, S.P. Mukherjee Road, Kolkata, 700 026, India

    Subhabrata Dey

  3. Crystallography & Molecular Biology Division, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, I/AF Bidhan Nagar, Kolkata, 700 064, India

    Utpal Ghosh & N. P. Bhattacharyya

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  1. Sutapa Mukherjee (nee Chakraborty)
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  2. Utpal Ghosh
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  3. N. P. Bhattacharyya
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  4. R. K. Bhattacharya
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  5. Subhabrata Dey
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  6. Madhumita Roy
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Correspondence to Madhumita Roy.

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Mukherjee (nee Chakraborty), S., Ghosh, U., Bhattacharyya, N.P. et al. Curcumin-induced apoptosis in human leukemia cell HL-60 is associated with inhibition of telomerase activity. Mol Cell Biochem 297, 31–39 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11010-006-9319-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11010-006-9319-z

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