Research ArticleCurcumin exhibits anti-tumor effect and attenuates cellular migration via Slit-2 mediated down-regulation of SDF-1 and CXCR4 in endometrial adenocarcinoma cells

Although curcumin shows anti-proliferative and anti-inflammatory activities in various cancers, the effect of curcumin on cellular migration in endometrial adenocarcinoma cells remains to be understood. The current investigation was aimed to explore the anti-proliferative and anti-migratory effects of curcumin and its mechanism of action in endometrial cancer cells. Our in-vitro and in-vivo experimental studies showed that curcumin inhibited the proliferation of endometrial cancer cells and suppressed the tumor growth in Ishikawa xenograft mouse model. Curcumin induced ROS-mediated apoptosis in endometrial cancer cells. Curcumin suppressed the migration rate of Ishikawa and Hec-1B cells as analyzed by scratch wound assay. In transwell migration studies, knock down of Slit-2 reversed the anti-migratory effect of curcumin in these cell lines. Curcumin significantly up-regulated the expression of Slit-2 in Ishikawa, Hec-1B and primary endometrial cancer cells while it down-regulated the expression of stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) and CXCR4 which in turn, suppressed the expression of matrix metallopeptidases (MMP) 2 and 9, thus attenuating the migration of endometrial cancer cells. In summary, we have demonstrated that curcumin has inhibitory effect on cellular migration via Slit-2 mediated down-regulation of CXCR4, SDF-1, and MMP2/MMP9 in endometrial carcinoma cells. These findings helped explore the role of Slit-2 in endometrial cancer cells.