Abstract 4107: p38-HSP27 as modulators from survival to apoptosis: Combined treatment with TRAIL and curcumin to prostate cancer cells

The effect of combination of TRAIL and curcumin enhanced apoptotic cell death in many other studies. However, the exact molecular mechanism of enhanced apoptotic cell death by TRAIL plus curcumin was not yet completely understood. In this study, we clearly observed the depression of phosphorylated Akt and increase of phosphorylated p38 during combined treatment with TRAIL and curcumin. Previously, we observed that TRAIL induced the catalytic activation of Akt in TRAIL-sensitive cells and here, the catalytic activation of Akt was reversely decreased by curcumin pretreatment followed by TRAIL. We also found that significant increase of p38 phosphorylation was deeply linked to the decrease of Akt catalytic activity by regulation of the level of phosphorylated HSP27, which leads to the change of interaction between TRAF6 and Src, and subsequent Src-Akt inactivation. For the examination of relationship of p38-HSP27 with Akt activity, in vitro Akt kinase assay, and siRNA technique were used to confirm the biological effect of p38-HSP27 as modulators from survival to apoptosis by combined treatment with TRAIL and curcumin to prostate cancer cells. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4107. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-4107