Effects of curcumin analogue T83 on apoptosis of homologous nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells with different radioresistance

AIM：To compare the effect of T83 (a 4-arylidene curcumin analogue) on the apoptosis of homologous nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells with different radioresistance. METHODS：The effects of T83 on the viability, apoptosis, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), expression of procaspase-3/procaspase-9/Cyt-C proteins and relative PTEN/Akt/p27 mRNA expression in CNE-2R cells and CNE-2 cells were detected and compared by the methods of MTT assay, Hoechst staining, flow cytometry, Western blotting and qRT-PCR. RESULTS：T83 inhibited the viability of CNE-2R cells with the IC50 of 0.9,0.4 and 0.2 μmol/L for 24 h, 48 h and 72 h,respectively, which was more effective than that inhibiting the viability of CNE-2 cells with the IC50 of 1.8，0.5 and 0.4 μmol/L, respectively. After treated with T83 for 48 h, chromatin condensation, margination and splitting into a massive structure were observed in CNE-2R cells and CNE-2 cells,and the late apoptotic rate of CNE-2R cells was increased from 1.57% to 27.26%, which was higher than that of CNE-2 cells (1.74% to 8.15%). After treated with T83 for 36 h, the MMP in CNE-2R cells decreased by 87.71% and that decreased by 50.47% in CNE-2 cells. After treated with T83 for 48 h, the protein levels of procaspase-3 and procaspase-9 were decreased, and the protein level of Cyt-C was increased, which were more susceptible in CNE-2R cells than those in CNE-2 cells. After treated with T83 for 24 h, the relative mRNA expression of PTEN and p27 was significantly up-regulated, and the mRNA expression of Akt was down-regulated, which were more susceptible in CNE-2R cells than those in CNE-2 cells. CONCLUSION：Compared with CNE-2 cells, the inhibitory effect of T83 on the viability of CNE-2R cells is more specific by starting the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway, which is due to the inhibition of PTEN/Akt/p27 signaling pathway.