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Updated: May 1, 2026
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Cancer Drug Sensitization In Vitro and In Vivo
Published on: February 6, 2015
Study to evaluate molecular mechanics behind synergistic chemo-preventive effects of curcumin and resveratrol during
Anshoo Malhotra1, Praveen Nair2, Devinder Kumar Dhawan2
1Department of Biophysics, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research [PGIMER], Chandigarh, India.
Background:
The combination approach is the future of the war against cancer and the present study evaluated molecular mechanics behind the synergistic effects of curcumin and resveratrol during lung carcinogenesis.
Methods:
The mice were segregated into five groups which included normal control, Benzo[a]pyrene[BP] treated, BP+curcumin treated, BP+resveratrol treated and BP+curcumin+resveratrol treated.
Results:
The morphological analyses of tumor nodules confirmed lung carcinogenesis in mice after 22 weeks of single intra-peritoneal[i.p] injection of BP at a dose of 100 mg/Kg body weight. The BP treatment resulted in a significant increase in the protein expressions of p53 in the BP treated mice. Also, a significant increase in the protein expression of phosphorylated p53[ser15] confirmed p53 hyper-phosphorylation in BP treated mice. On the other hand, enzyme activities of caspase 3 and caspase 9 were noticed to be significantly decreased following BP treatment. Further, radiorespirometric studies showed a significant increase in the 14C-glucose turnover as well as 14C-glucose uptake in the lung slices of BP treated mice. Moreover, a significant rise in the cell proliferation was confirmed indirectly by enhanced uptake of 3H-thymidine in the lung slices of BP treated mice. Interestingly, combined treatment of curcumin and resveratrol to BP treated animals resulted in a significant decrease in p53 hyper-phosphorylation, 14C glucose uptakes/turnover and 3H-thymidine uptake in the BP treated mice. However, the enzyme activities of caspase 3 and caspase 9 showed a significant increase upon treatment with curcumin and resveratrol.
Conclusion:
The study, therefore, concludes that molecular mechanics behind chemo-preventive synergism involved modulation of p53 hyper-phosphorylation, regulation of caspases and cellular metabolism enzymes.
