Curcumin-Mediated Apoptotic Cell Death in Papillary Thyroid Cancer and Cancer Stem-Like Cells through Targeting of the JAK/STAT3 Signaling Pathway

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Aamir Ahmad¹  Said Dermime²  KodappullyS. Siveen³  AbdulQ. Khan³  Martin Steinhoff³  EimanI. Ahmed³  KirtiS. Prabhu³  Shahab Uddin³  Noor Elareer³  Michal Kulinski³  Hamna Fathima³  Fouad Azizi³ 

[1] Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35205, USA;National Centre for Cancer Care and Research, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha 3050, Qatar;Translational Research Institute, Academic Health System, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha 3050, Qatar;

关键词: thyroid cancer;    curcumin;    cisplatin;    stat3;    cell proliferation;    cancer stem cells;    apoptosis;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms21020438

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The constitutive activation of Janus Kinase/Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (JAK/STAT) signal transduction is well elucidated in STAT3-mediated oncogenesis related to thyroid cancer and is considered to be a plausible therapeutic target. Hence, we investigated whether curcumin, a natural compound, can target the JAK/STAT3 signaling pathway to induce cytotoxic effects in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) cell lines (BCPAP and TPC-1) and derived thyroid cancer stem-like cells (thyrospheres). Curcumin suppressed PTC cell survival in a dose-dependent manner via the induction of caspase-mediated apoptosis and caused the attenuation of constitutively active STAT3 (the dephosphorylation of Tyr705−STAT3) without affecting STAT3. Gene silencing with STAT3-specific siRNA showed the modulation of genes associated with cell growth and proliferation. The cotreatment of PTC cell lines with curcumin and cisplatin synergistically potentiated cytotoxic effects via the suppression of JAK/STAT3 activity along with the inhibition of antiapoptotic genes and the induction of proapoptotic genes, and it also suppressed the migration of PTC cells by downregulating matrix metalloproteinases and the inhibition of colony formation. Finally, thyrospheres treated with curcumin and cisplatin showed suppressed STAT3 phosphorylation, a reduced formation of thyrospheres, and the downregulated expression of stemness markers, in addition to apoptosis. The current study’s findings suggest that curcumin synergistically enhances the anticancer activity of cisplatin in PTC cells as well as in cancer stem-like cells by targeting STAT3, which suggests that curcumin combined with chemotherapeutic agents may provide better therapeutic outcomes.

【 授权许可】

Unknown