Abstract
It has been suggested that combined effect of natural products may improve the treatment effectiveness in combating proliferation of cancer cells. Here, we examined the combined anticancer activities of compounds of three natural origin including baicalein, curcumin, and resveratrol with chemotherapy drug paclitaxel respectively, which showed that combination of paclitaxel with curcumin exhibited synergistic growth inhibition and induced significant apoptosis in MCF-7 cell lines. Treatment of MCF-7 cell lines with paclitaxel and curcumin induced the apoptosis of regulatory protein Bcl-2 but decreased Bax expression. In addition, simultaneous treatment with paclitaxel and curcumin strongly inhibited paclitaxel-induced activities of EGFR signaling. Furthermore, the combination of paclitaxel and curcumin exerted increased anti-tumor efficacy on mouse models. Overall, our data described the promising therapeutic potential and underlying mechanisms of combining paclitaxel with curcumin in treating breast cancer.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 81302800 and 81102414), the National Science Foundation for Post-doctoral Scientists of China (Grant No. 2013M532062).
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Zhan, Y., Chen, Y., Liu, R. et al. Potentiation of paclitaxel activity by curcumin in human breast cancer cell by modulating apoptosis and inhibiting EGFR signaling. Arch. Pharm. Res. 37, 1086–1095 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12272-013-0311-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12272-013-0311-3