Curcumin Upregulate Expression of HO-1 and Nrf-2 in SHSY5Y Cells

Nrf-2(Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2)/HO-1(Heme Oxygenase-1) signaling pathway plays an important role in the suppression of carcinoma, The study aims to investigate the effect of Curcumin on the expression of HO-1 and Nrf-2, which will provide a therapeutic intervention for treatment of carcinoma. SHSY5Y cells were treated with Curcumin at 0, 1.25, 5.0, 20.0 μM for the time course assay. RT-PCR and Western Blot assays were carried out to detect mRNA and protein expression of Nrf-2 and HO-1, we also transfect Nrf-2 siRNA after SHSY5Y cells were treated with Curcumin at different dosage at 24 hr. RT-PCR and Western blot results indicated that the expression of HO-1 mRNA and protein significantly increased, and the changes were in a dose- and time-dependence manner, so did the Nrf-2. Moreover, the expression of HO-1 protein in the Nrf-2 siRNA transfected cells were sharply decreased after treated with Curcumin at different dosage at 24 hr. HO-1 is a potential target for treating carcinoma. The mechanism of Curcumin playing its role of suppressing carcinoma is via activiting Nrf-2/HO-1 pathway. The results will provide a new method for treatment of carcinoma with Curcumin.