Calebin-A induces apoptosis and modulates MAPK family activity in drug resistant human gastric cancer cells

This study is the first to investigate Calebin-A, a natural compound present in Curcuma longa, which inhibits cell growth and induce apoptosis in SGC7901/VINCRISTINE cells, a multidrug resistant (MDR) human gastric adenocarcinoma cell line. Our data suggest the drug efflux function of P-glycoprotein was inhibited by Calebin-A treatment, while the expression level of P-glycoprotein was not affected. Additionally, co-treatment of Calebin-A and vincristine resulted in a remarkable reduction in S phase and G2/M phase arrest in SGC7901/VINCRISTINE cells. Calebin-A was also found to modulate the activities of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family members, which includes decreased c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and increased protein kinase of 38 kDa (p38) activity. These results suggest that Calebin-A might be an effective compound for the treatment of human gastric and other MDR cancers.