Figure 5.

Effect of curcumin on 5-FU chemosensitivity in the EAC cell lines Flo-1 and OE33. (A) Levels of apoptosis induced by increasing doses of 5-FU and/or curcumin treatment for 48 hours in Flo-1 and OE33 cells were determined using the Caspase-Glo 3/7 activity assay. (B) Caspase 3/7 activity was normalized to cell number as determined by WST-1 proliferation assay. These numbers were then compared with the level of vehicle control and expressed as percentage caspase activity (mean % ± SD). Each data point represented three individual wells. Immunoblot analyses of PARP cleavage were used to assess apoptosis in (C) Flo-1 cells and (D) OE33 cells that were treated with increasing doses of 5-FU and/or curcumin for 48 hours. β-Actin was used as a loading control. DMSO was used as the vehicle control in all experiments. Independently repeated experiments were performed to ensure reproducibility.