Curcumin-induced Histone Acetylation in Malignant Hematologic Cells

This study investigated the inhibitory effects of curcumin on proliferation of hematological malignant cells in vitro and the anti-tumor mechanism at histone acetylation/histone deacetylation levels. The effects of curcumin and histone deacetylase inhibitor trichostatin A （TSA） on the growth of Raji cells were tested by MTT assay. The expression of acetylated histone-3 （H3） in Raji, HL60 and K562 cells, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells （PBMCs） treated with curcumin or TSA was detected by immunohistochemistry and FACS. The results showed curcumin inhibited pro- liferation of Raji cells significantly in a time- and dose-dependent fashion, while exhibited low toxicity in PBMCs. Curcumin induced up-regulation of the expression of acetylated H3 dose-dependently in all malignant cell lines tested. In conclusion, curcumin inhibited proliferation of Raji cells selectively, enhanced the level of acetylated H3 in Raji, HL60, and K562 cells, which acted as a histone deacetylase inhibitor like TSA. Furthermore, up-regulation of H3 acetylation may play an important role in regulating the proliferation of Raji cells.