Curcumin inhibited the arylamines N-acetyltransferase activity, gene expression and DNA adduct formation in human lung cancer cells (A549).

It is well known that N-acetyltransferase (NAT) plays an important role in the arylamine metabolism. We analysed the response of A549 human lung cancer cells for N-acetylation of 2-aminofluorene (AF) to curcumin. After curcumin treatment, the NAT activity was examined by HPLC, AF-DNA adduct formation was examined by HPLC, and NAT gene expression by polymerase chain reaction were detected. The NAT activity in the human A549 cells and cytosols was suppressed by curcumin in a dose-dependent manner. The results also demonstrated that gene expression (NAT1 mRNA) in human lung A549 tumor cells was inhibited and decreased by curcumin. After the incubation of human lung A549 tumor cells with AF with or without curcumin co-treatment, the cells were recovered and DNA was prepared and hydrolyzed to nucleotides. The adducted nucleotides were extracted into butanol and analyzation of AF-DNA adducts was done by HPLC. The results also demonstrated that curcumin decreases AF-DNA adduct formation in the human lung A549 tumor cells.