Figure 1

DMC demonstrates more potent anticancer effects than curcumin in vitro and in vivo. (a) Chemical structures of curcumin and DMC. (b) Effects of curcumin and DMC on the viability of various breast cancer cells in vitro. Cells were treated with curcumin or DMC at the indicated concentrations for 24 h and their cellular viabilities were assessed using calcein-AM and EthD-1. (c) Dose- and time-dependent effects of curcumin and DMC on the long-term survival of MDA-MB 435S cells. MDA-MB 435S cells seeded on six-well plates were treated with DMC or curcumin at the indicated concentrations for 12 h and then media were replaced with drug-free media. Following the subsequent incubation for 9 days, cells were stained with 0.5% crystal violet. Representative dishes after clonogenic assay are shown and colony-forming units were enumerated and expressed as the percentages of control cells. (d) Effects of curcumin and DMC on the tumor sizes of the nude mice with xenograft. Athymic nude mice of 6–8 weeks old were xenografted with MDA-MB 435S cells and injected with vehicle, 25 mg/kg curcumin, 50 mg/kg curcumin, 25 mg/kg DMC or 50 mg/kg DMC as described in Materials and Methods section. Tumor sizes were measured every 2 days after the beginning of vehicle (filter-sterilized PBS containing 0.25% DMSO), curcumin or DMC injection. (e) MDA-MB 435S/Luc cells were injected into the left thigh of athymic mice. Xenografted mice were treated with vehicle, 50 mg/kg curcumin or 50 mg/kg DMC as described in Materials and Methods section. Tumor progression was evaluated by bioluminescent imaging at day 20 after the beginning of the indicated treatments