Curcumin Inhibits the Tumor Invasiveness Via ERK/MAPK Pathway in Human Glioma U251 Cells

OBJECTIVETo investigate the inhibitory effect of curcumin on the invasiveness of human glioma U251 cells in vitro and the role of ERK/MAPK pathway in this process. METHODSWe studied on the two groups:the control group and the treatment group with curcumin in U251 cells. Transwell invasion assay was used to measure the invasive ability of U251 cells. Expression of MMP-9 was detected by immunocytochemistry. The levels of total and phosphorylated ERK were assessed by Western blot analysis. RESULTSTranswell invasion assay showed that the number of cells through the basal membrane decreased from 160 to 42 per high vision.The immunocytochemistry experiment showed that the percentage of MMP-9 positive cells decreased from 76% to 40% after treatment.In the Western blot analysis, when the curcumin concentration came to 16 μmol·L-1 and the time of therapy differed,which was 0，24，48 or 96 h,the ratio of pERK to ERK was 0.48，0.42，0.35 and 0.22. CONCLUSIONCurcumin can inhibit the invasiveness of human glioma U251 cells in vitro. The inhibitory effect may result from the blocking of ERK pathway.