Profile of Apoptotic Proteins after Curcumin Treatment by Antibody Array in H69AR Lung Cancer Cells

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the changes in the expression levels of apoptosis-related proteins after treatment with curcumin (Cur) on multiple drug-resistant H69AR non-small cell lung cancer cells. Materials and Methods: Viability of H69AR cells after Cur exposure (5-100 µg/mL) was evaluated via MTT assay at 24, 48 and 72 h. Apoptosis was assessed via ELISA assay. Apoptosis related proteins of breast cancer cell lines were analyzed by a Human Apoptosis Antibody Array. Protein-protein interactions were analyzed and visualized by using the STRING database. Results: Cur inhibited cell viability and induced apoptosis in H69AR cells. The IC50 value of Cur in H69AR cells was 8.75 µg/ mL. The array results showed that the protein levels of pro-apoptotic proteins such as Bad, Bax, Caspase-3, TRAIL R1, TRAIL R2, FADD, Fas, SMAC/DIABLO, HMOX2 were significantly increased by 2.4-, 3.1-, 2.6-, 3.1-, 3.4-, 2.4-, 2.1-, 4.1- and 5.5-fold in H69AR cells (p<0.05). Moreover, the protein levels of the anti-apoptotic proteins such as Bcl-2, cIAP-1, CLU and HIF1A were significantly decreased by 4.1-, 3.2-, 2.2- and 2.0-fold, respectively in H69AR cells by Cur exposure (p<0.05). Conclusion: Findings of this study suggested that Cur induced apoptosis of human H69AR cells via mediating several proteins involved in both extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic pathways.