Curcumin Inhibited HepG-2 Cell Proliferation through Inducing Egr-1 Gene Expression

Abstract: HepG-2 cells were treated with curcumin to investigate its effect on cell proliferation and the underlying molecular mechanism. After curcumin treatment， expression level of tumor-related genes was analyzed. The up-regulated gene Egr-1 was concerned and its expression in curcumin-treated HepG-2 cells was verified. Subsequently， Egr-1 shRNA was designed and constructed into pGreenPuro vector to obtain the recombinant plasmid pGreenPuro-Egr-1. The stable interfering cell lines were established by puromycin selection. Finally， the resistant cell lines were used to analyze the role of Egr-1 interference in HepG-2 cells exposed to curcumin. It was found that HepG-2 cell proliferation was decreased in a dose-dependent manner when treated with different concentrations of curcumin for 24 or 48 h. When treated with 20 μmol/L of curcumin， the proliferation was decreased in time-dependent manner. Furthermore， Egr-1 gene expression was dramatically elevated when HepG-2 cells were treated with curcumin. Interestingly， the suppression effect of curcumin in HepG-2 cell proliferation was attenuated when Egr-1 gene expression was interfered. Based on all of the above results， it is concluded that curcumin inhibits HepG-2 cell proliferation through inducing Egr-1 gene expression， and it might have the prospect in treating hepatocarcinoma.

CSTR: 32200.14.cjcb.2015.06.0012