Evaluation of the chemo-preventive potential of Curcumin against Bisphenol- A exposed MCF-7 and RL95-2 Cancer Cells

Abstract

Curcumin (CUR) has been reported to exhibit cytotoxic effects on various human cancer cell lines in vitro, with limited reports on its mechanism of action in MCF-7 and RL95-2 cells. Over the years, Bisphenol A (BPA), an industrial compound has received heightened attention owing to its endocrine-disrupting and carcinogenic properties. Therefore, the impact of CUR (5μM) and BPA (1μM) alone and also in combination in both cancer cell lines, for 5 days. This evaluation aimed to examine cell cytotoxicity (MTT), and apoptosis (AO/EtBr dual staining) along with transcriptional gene expression to further substantiate the observations. Results revealed that BPA enhanced the proliferation, while CUR alone and in combination inhibited the proliferation and induced apoptosis. qRT-PCR results showed significantly down-regulated expression of the ERα, ERβ, and c-MYC genes after treatment with CUR in BPA-exposed in both cell lines. Overall, our findings showed that CUR inhibited BPA-induced upregulation of genes related to cell proliferation and survival. These findings underscore CUR's potential to counteract the harmful effects of BPA exposure, paving the way for novel strategies to prevent and treat endocrine disruption and possible carcinogenesis caused by environmental agents.