RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Coupling Dichloroacetate Treatment with Curcumin Significantly Enhances Anticancer Potential JF Anticancer Research JO Anticancer Res FD International Institute of Anticancer Research SP 6253 OP 6261 DO 10.21873/anticanres.12981 VO 38 IS 11 A1 PING-CHUAN KAN A1 YU-JIA CHANG A1 CHIN-SUNG CHIEN A1 CHEN-YING SU A1 HSU-WEI FANG YR 2018 UL http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/38/11/6253.abstract AB Background/Aim: Dichloroacetate (DCA) and curcumin have been shown to be potent drug candidates in cancer therapy. Our study aimed to investigate the combined effects of DCA and essential oil-blended curcumin (ECUR) using the hepatoma Huh-7 cell model. Materials and Methods: Muse™ Cell Cycle assay, Muse™ Annexin V & Dead Cell assay, Muse™ Oxidative Stress assay, and western blot analysis were applied to explore the underlying mechanisms. Results: DCA combined with ECUR dramatically augmented inhibition of cell survival and enhanced apoptotic induction. The enhanced apoptosis was accompanied by mitochondria-dependent apoptotic signaling activation and corroborated with significant cellular morphological alternations. Conclusion: Apoptosis was the major event contributing to the synergistically boosted antiproliferative effect. Coupling DCA treatment with curcumin may rationally be expected to lower the DCA dose needed and relatively reduce accompanying toxicity and oxidative damage while enhancing anticancer potential. This novel ‘add-on’ approach is, thus, of enormous value to the current DCA therapy.