Figure 5. Combination of curcumin with HSV-TK/GCV therapy enhanced the inhibitory effect on xenografted melanoma.

(A) Timeline of the in-vivo study. (B) B16^TK and B16^WT cell mixture with 20%, 40%, and 80% of B16^TK cells was injected into the right flanks of each C57BL/6J mouse, followed by GCV administration. Then the xenografted tumors were isolated and weighed for analysis. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 vs. the ctrl group. (C–D) Subcutaneous tumors were induced in C57BL/6J mice using B16^TK and B16^WT cells mixed at a ratio of 3:7. The mice were divided into 4 groups randomly, and subjected to the indicated treatments. (C) Tumor volume was measured daily since the 11th day till the end. (D) The tumor weight of xenografted tumor. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 vs. the ctrl group; ^#P < 0.05, Cur + GCV group vs. GCV group; P < 0.05, Cur + GCV group vs. Cur group. Data were presented as means ± SD.