Abstract

Tao Kong, Yongxing Wang, Li Xiao and Limin Liao*

Previous studies have indicated that Notch-1 activity plays an essential role in prostate tumorigenesis. However, its underlying mechanism is not yet clear. In this study, Curcumin, a drug widely used in Ayurvedic medicine for its antimalarial and anti-inflammatory properties, was used to investigate its impact on cell survival, migration and Notch signaling status in prostate cancer cell lines. Our data show that Curcumin treatment significantly suppressed the proliferation and migration of prostate cancer cell lines DU145 and PC3 in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Two migration-related genes, MT1-MMP and its target-molecule MMP2, were downregulated by Curcumin. There was no significant change of Notch-1 and its cleaved product NICD levels after Curcumin treatment. Furthermore, our chromatin immunoprecipitation assay (ChIP) revealed a remarkable decrease of NICD binding to Hes-1 promoter. Altogether, our results suggest an anti-tumor action of Curcumin in prostate cancer that might be through suppression of the Notch-1 transactivity.