dendrosomal curcumin induced apoptosis by suppression of pluripotency genes in 5637 bladder cancer cells

objective: the anti-cancer properties of curcumin, a poliphenol extract from the rhizome of curry, has been confirmed by many investigators. however, low levels of uptake, tissue distribution and rapid metabolism has limited its application as an anti-cancer drug. this study is aimed at increasing curcumin's water solubility due to a biodegradable, neutral and non-toxic micellar nano-carrier called dendrosome. this study intends to evaluate the role of dendrosomal-curcumin (dnc) in bladder cancer cell growth. methods: we performed the mtt assay, flow cytometry and annexin v-fluos (as an apoptosis detection kit) to evaluate cell death. the genetic mechanism of dnc-induced apoptosis was accomplished by a study of the relative expressions of oct4a, oct4b1, sox-2 and nanog using real-time pcr. results: dnc-induced cell death complied with a time and dose-dependent paradigm in the 5637 cell line. cell cycle analysis revealed that the number of cells increased in pre-g1 and gradually decreased in g1 and s phases. this showed the inhibitory property of dendrosomal-curcumin on dna synthesis. data from real-time pcr determined that expressions of oct4a, oct4b1, sox-2 and nanog could be related to 5637 cancer cell growth. dendrosomal-curcumin significantly suppressed mrna expression of the above mentioned genes (pconclusion: the data showed that dnc induced apoptosis by suppression of pluripotency genes in 5637 bladder cancer cells, which confirmed the useful characteristic of nano-drug in bladder cancer therapy