Curcumin suppress the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma via down-regulating SREBF1.

The aim of this study is to investigate the pharmacological effect of curcumin on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) Huh7 and PLC cells and to explore its mechanism in the pathological process by screening possible target genes. MTT assay was used to detect the effect of curcumin on the growth of Huh7 and PLC cells. The inhibitory effect was found to be in a time- and dose- dependent manner, and the cytoplasm was shrunk with round or elliptic morphology. Flow cytometry indicated that curcumin could significantly accelerate apoptosis of Huh7 and PLC cells, showing an obvious dosage effect. Retrieval in gene expression database and related gene-drug network analysis showed that the effect of curcumin on the apoptosis of HCC cells was related to SREBF1 (sterol regulatory element binding transcription factor 1) gene. In the in-vitro experiment, adding curcumin could significantly down-regulate SREBF1, and Western Blot suggested that down-regulation of SREBF1 could suppress the tumor growth. In conclusion, Curcumin could significantly suppress the tumor growth by way of down-regulating SREBF1 expression.