Curcumin induced nanoscale CD44 molecular redistribution and antigen–antibody interaction on HepG2 cell surface

The cell surface glycoprotein CD44 was implicated in the progression, metastasis and apoptosis of certain human tumors. In this study, we used atomic force microscope (AFM) to monitor the effect of curcumin on human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cell surface nanoscale structure. High-resolution imaging revealed that cell morphology and ultrastructure changed a lot after being treated with curcumin. The membrane average roughness increased (10.88 ± 4.62 nm to 129.70 ± 43.72 nm) and the expression of CD44 decreased (99.79 ± 0.16% to 75.14 ± 8.37%). Laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM) imaging showed that CD44 molecules were located on the cell membrane. The florescence intensity in control group was weaker than that in curcumin treated cells. Most of the binding forces between CD44 antibodies and untreated HepG2 cell membrane were around 120–220 pN. After being incubated with curcumin, the major forces focused on 70–150 pN (10 μM curcumin-treated) and 50–120 pN (20 μM curcumin-treated). These results suggested that, as result of nanoscale molecular redistribution, changes of the cell surface were in response to external treatment of curcumin. The combination of AFM and LSCM could be a powerful method to detect the distribution of cell surface molecules and interactions between molecules and their ligands.

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► In this study, we investigate the changes of CD44 expression and distribution on HepG2 cells after curcumin treatment.
► We find curcumin is able to change the morphology and ultrastructure of HepG2 cells.
► Curcumin can reduce the expression of CD44 molecules and induce the nanoscale molecular redistribution on cell surface.
► The binding force between CD44-modified AFM tip and the HepG2 cell surface decreases after curcumin-treatment.