MicroRNA-378 enhances inhibitory effect of curcumin on glioblastoma

Glioblastoma multiforme is the most aggressive and common primary brain tumor, and is virtually incurable due to its therapeutic resistance to radiation and chemotherapy. Curcumin is a well-known phytochemical exhibiting antitumor activity on many human cancers including glioblastoma multiforme. Given the unique miRNA expression profiles in cancer cells compared to non-cancerous cells, we investigated whether these miRNA could be used to cancer therapy. In this report we show that miR-378, a glioblastoma multiforme down regulated miRNA, may enhance the inhibitory effect of curcumin on this cancer growth. Our results indicated that the inhibitory effect of curcumin was enhanced in miR-378-expressing stable U87 cells in vitro and in vivo, compared to control cells. MiR-378 was found to target p-p38 expression, underlying the observed phenotypic changes. Thus, we concluded that miR-378 enhances the response of glioblastoma multiforme to curcumin treatment, by targeting p38.