Objective: Curcumin (Cur) has been shown to modulate biological processes. It has been reported that apoptosis is induced by stimulation of transient receptor potential protein channels in numerous cancer cells. We aimed to explain the synergistic effects and underlying molecular mechanism and immunohistochemical (İHC) evaluate of combined treatment of and Cur and Cetuximab (Ctx) in squamous cell cancer of Larynx.
Patients and Methods: Human epidermoid larynx carcinoma cell line (Hep2/An3) were cultured and cells were divided into seven main groups. Cells were incubated with Ctx and Cur separately and together performed on Hep2/An3 cell cultures. The effects of Ctx and Cur were investigated on all molecular pathways of apoptosis. We evaluated the combined treatment of Ctx and Cur in laryngeal squamous cell cancer immunohistochemically.
Results: ROS levels and apoptotic levels were statistically increased in the Ctx and Ctx+curc group compared with the control (p ˂ 0.001). Caspase-3 and caspase-9 levels were statistically higher in the Ctx and Curc group (p ˂ 0.001). P53 and Bcl-2 showed a moderate staining rate in the control and Curc group in İHC staining. The rate of Ki 67 positive cell percentage was lower in Ctx, Cur and Ctx+Cur group.
Conclusion: TCtx significantly increases apoptosis in larynx cancer cells and Curc increased apoptosis in larynx cells and enhance the apoptotic effect of Ctx on these cells.