Curcumin may have therapeutic value in treating human liposarcoma. - GreenMedInfo Summary

Human liposarcoma is the most common soft tissue sarcoma. There is no effective therapy so far except for surgery. In this study, we report for the first time that curcumin induces endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in human liposarcoma cells via interacting with sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase 2 (SERCA2). Curcumin dose-dependently inhibited the cell survival of human liposarcoma cell line SW872 cells but did not affect that of human normal adipose derived cells. Curcumin mediated ER stress via inhibiting the activity of SERCA2 caused increasing expressions of CHOP and its transcription target death receptor 5 (TRAIL-R2), leading to a caspase8/3 cascade dependent apoptosis in SW872 cells in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, 70% of human liposarcoma tissues showed an elevated SERCA2 expression compared with normal adipose tissues. Curcumin dose-dependently inhibited the activity of SERCA2, and the interaction in molecular docking and co-localization in ER of curcumin with SERCA2 were further observed. These findings suggest that curcumin may serve as a potent agent for curing human liposarcoma via targeting SERCA2.