Curcumin inhibits proliferation and migration of A549 lung cancer cells through activation of ERK1/2 Pathway-induced autophagy

Abstract

Curcumin is a major component of turmeric with promising tumor-suppressive activity; however, its underlying molecular mechanisms need to be investigated further. We aimed to investigate the mechanisms of curcumin on the proliferation and migration of lung cancer cells. To confirm that, A549 lung cancer cells were cultured in vitro with or without curcumin; the effect of curcumin on cell proliferation was evaluated using the cell counting kit-8 assay, and its effect on cell migration was evaluated using a wound-healing assay. The results suggested that curcumin treatment inhibited the proliferation and migration of A549 cells, but these effects were alleviated when autophagy was inhibited by small interfering RNA that targets ATG5 or autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine. Similarly, inactivation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) also attenuated the effects of curcumin on A549 cells. Collectively, our data suggested that curcumin induces autophagy via activating the ERK1/2 pathway and the autophagy is important for the inhibiting effect of curcumin in lung adenocarcinoma cells.