ArticleJournal of Zhejiang University. Science. B2022
Investigation and experimental validation of curcumin-related mechanisms against hepatocellular carcinoma based on network pharmacology.
Article in Journal of Zhejiang University. Science. B, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Curcumin as a therapeutic agent in liver cancer: a systematic review of preclinical models and mechanisms.European journal of medical research · 2025Pooled it
- Network Pharmacology and Experimental Validation to Reveal the Pharmacological Mechanisms of Gynostemma pentaphylla against Acute Pharyngitis.Current computer-aided drug design · 2026Article
- Saffron andWorld journal of gastroenterology · 2025Article
- Molecular targets and therapeutic implications of curcumin in hepatocellular carcinoma: a comprehensive literature review.Cancer cell international · 2025Review
- To investigate the effect and mechanism of tetrahydrocurcumin on hepatocellular carcinoma based on phosphoinositide 3-kinases/AKT signaling pathway.World journal of gastrointestinal oncology · 2025Article
- Exploring the interplay of natural products and long non-coding RNAs in colorectal cancer: pathogenesis, diagnosis, and overcoming drug resistance.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2025Review
- Traditional Chinese Medicine for Liver Cancer Treatment: Network Pharmacology Research.Current topics in medicinal chemistry · 2025Review
- Research advances in traditional Chinese medicine formulae and active components targeting lipid metabolism for hepatocellular carcinoma therapy.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Review
- Targeting the programmed cell death signaling mechanism with natural products for the treatment of acute pancreatitis: a review.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Review
- Will AMPK be a potential therapeutic target for hepatocellular carcinoma?American journal of cancer research · 2024Review
- Hyaluronic Acid-Mediated Phenolic Compound Nanodelivery for Cancer Therapy.Pharmaceutics · 2023Review
- Recent Advances in Cellular Signaling Interplay between Redox Metabolism and Autophagy Modulation in Cancer: An Overview of Molecular Mechanisms and Therapeutic Interventions.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Targeted Pyroptosis Is a Potential Therapeutic Strategy for Cancer.Journal of oncology · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo determine the potential molecular mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effect of curcumin on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by network pharmacology and experimental in vitro validation.
methodsThe predictive targets of curcumin or HCC were collected from several databases. the identified overlapping targets were crossed with Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses using the Database for Annotation, Visualization, and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) platform. Two of the candidate pathways were selected to conduct an experimental verification. The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide tetrazolium (MTT) assay was used to determine the effect of curcumin on the viability of HepG2 and LO2 cells. The apoptosis and autophagy of HepG2 cells were respectively detected by flow cytometry and transmission electron microscopy. Besides, western blot and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were employed to verify the p53 apoptotic pathway and adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK) autophagy pathway. HepG2 cells were pretreated with pifithrin-α (PFT-α) and GSK690693 for further investigation.
resultsThe 167 pathways analyzed by KEGG included apoptosis, autophagy, p53, and AMPK pathways. The GO enrichment analysis demonstrated that curcumin was involved in cellular response to drug, regulation of apoptotic pathway, and so on. The in vitro experiments also confirmed that curcumin can inhibit the growth of HepG2 cells by promoting the apoptosis of p53 pathway and autophagy through the AMPK pathway. Furthermore, the protein and messenger RNA (mRNA) of the two pathways were downregulated in the inhibitor-pretreated group compared with the experimental group. The damage-regulated autophagy modulator (DRAM) in the PFT-α-pretreated group was downregulated, and p62 in the GSK690693-pretreated group was upregulated.
conclusionsCurcumin can treat HCC through the p53 apoptotic pathway and the AMPK/Unc-51-like kinase 1 (ULK1) autophagy pathway, in which the mutual transformation of autophagy and apoptosis may occur through DRAM and p62.
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