MPTQ stock solutions of 7.5, 15, 30 and 75?mM were prepared in DMSO. the sympathetic nervous system and occasionally in central nervous system, including brain1,2. According to International Neuroblastoma Staging System, neuroblastomas are categorized into four different stages (ICIV)3. Stage-I and ?II tumors either regress spontaneously or with minimal therapy and surgery, whereas the patients with stage-III or -IV tumors have poor prognosis as the malignancy metastasizes to distant sites like lung, liver and bone marrow getting patients TAK-285 at higher risk for death4. Bansal (Brain expressed X-linked) genes belong to a small family of genes including and in mouse while instead of in humans. All these genes are located on X-chromosome except and have been identified as tumor suppressor genes and are silenced in malignant glioblastoma. Re-expression of or gene by transduction enhanced chemosensitization and apoptosis in glioblastoma cells12. has also been reported as a pro-apoptotic protein mediated by p75NTR13 and reduces tumor formation in mouse xenograft models of human breast malignancy14. In addition, gene is very limited and role of genes in any cancers has never been reported. Moreover, the role of any genes is not studied in any neuroblastoma cells. It TAK-285 is highly impractical to re-express all genes employing gene therapy in a variety of cancers and in various tissues simultaneously. Therefore, manipulating tumor TAK-285 cells genome by nutraceutical/s or pharmaceutical/s to re-express genes can be of great importance in controlling cancer cells growth and death. Until today, there APOD is no statement on utilization of any small molecule or phytochemical to induce all the endogenous genes. Curcumin (diferuloylmethane), the principal curcuminoid of turmeric (genes is not reported. Therefore, we hypothesized that curcumin-mediated neuroblastoma cell death might induce genes. In the present study, induction of all endogenous genes was explored using curcumin-mediated apoptosis in N2a neuroblastoma cells. Cell signaling inhibitors were employed TAK-285 to investigate the possible molecular mechanisms behind curcumin-mediated induction of genes and to associate the expression of genes with apoptotic neuroblastoma cells death. Collectively, our studies for the first time suggest that all the genes can be induced specifically by curcumin to harness their tumor suppressor functions by inhibiting cell proliferation and activating apoptotic factors in N2a neuroblastoma cells. Results Curcumin induces apoptosis in N2a neuroblastoma cells in a dose-dependent manner Bright field images exhibit curcumin-mediated N2a cells death. These images show membrane blebbing (yellow arrow) and nuclear condensation (reddish arrow) only in curcumin treated cells, which are commonly seen in apoptotic cell death (Fig. 1a). Results from MTT assay show, curcumin inhibited cell proliferation significantly in a dose-dependent manner, p? ?0.001, n?=?3 and H?=?31.75 (Fig. 1b). Fluorescent images from LIVE/DEAD assays show a dose-dependent increased dead cells populace in curcumin treated cells (Fig. 1c). These images also show increased membrane blebbing and fragmented nuclei in curcumin treated cells than control TAK-285 cells. Cell scoring analysis indicated 5??2.3%, 11.4??5% and 100% cell deaths in N2a cells treated with 10, 25 and 50?M of curcumin respectively and the difference between the treatments is highly significant, p? ?0.001, n?=?4, H?=?43.49 (Fig. 1d). DNA fragmentation assay demonstrated increased DNA fragmentation in curcumin treated N2a cells than controls with maximum at 50?M (Fig. 1e). Densitometric analysis demonstrated approximately 1.8??0.31-fold increased DNA fragmentation (p? ?0.05) in cells treated with 50?M of curcumin than control cells (Fig. 1f) suggesting curcumin induces large-scale genetic lesions during N2a cells death. TUNEL assay, a widely used method to detect apoptosis was also performed. Fluorescent images from TUNEL assay show dose-dependent increased TUNEL positive cells in curcumin treated N2a cells than controls (Fig. 1g). Cell count analysis indicated approximately 3.9??4.2, 3.9??2.3, 18.06??8.56 and 80??6.07% TUNEL positive cells in control, 10, 25 and 50?M of curcumin treated N2a cells respectively (Fig. 1h). These data suggest that curcumin-mediated N2a cells death involves apoptosis. To avoid 100% cell death in 50?M of curcumin treatment, 25?M of curcumin treatment was used in subsequent experiments. Open in a separate window Figure 1 Curcumin induces apoptosis in N2a neuroblastoma cells.(a) Approximately, 80% N2a neuroblastoma cells were serum starved for 2?hours, treated with 50?M of curcumin in serum free media for 24?hours and bright field imaging was done from three random.