Demethoxycurcumin Suppresses Migration and Invasion of Human Cervical Cancer HeLa Cells via Inhibition of NF-κB Pathways

Abstract

Background/Aim: Demethoxycurcumin (DMC), one of the curcuminoids present in turmeric, has been shown to induce cell death in many human cancer cell lines, however, there has not been any investigation on whether DMC inhibits metastatic activity in human cervical cancer cells in vitro. In the present study, DMC at 2.5-15 μM decreased cell number, thus, we used IC₂₀ (7.5 μM) for further investigation of its anti-metastatic activity in human cervical cancer HeLa cells. Materials and Methods: The wound healing, migration, invasion, zymography, and western blotting assays were used to investigate the effects of DMC on HeLa cells. Results: The wound healing assay was used to show that DMC suppressed cell movement of HeLa cells. Furthermore, the trans-well chamber assay was used to show that DMC suppressed HeLa cell migration and invasion. Gelatin zymography assay did not show any significant effects of DMC on the gelatinolytic activity (MMP-2 and -9) in conditioned media of HeLa cells treated by DMC. Western blotting showed that DMC significantly reduced protein levels of GRB2, MMP-2, ERK1/2, N-cadherin and Ras but increased the levels of E-cadherin and NF-κB in HeLa cells. Confocal laser microscopy indicated that DMC increased NF-κB in HeLa cells confirming the results from Western blotting. Conclusion: DMC may be used as a novel anti-metastatic agent for the treatment of human cervical cancer in the future.