Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Nano- Curcumin on a Glioblastoma Cell Line

Glioblastoma multiforme is known as an aggressive brain tumor that is characterized by a high rate of recurrence. Current treatment strategies are not effective for GBM; therefore, novel targeted therapeutic options are urgently required. Nanocarrier-based drug delivery has recently gained attention due to the characteristics of blood-brain barrier permeability, continued drug release, improved solubility, and enhanced drug bioactivity. To this point, we investigated the superior effect of a nano-form of curcumin vs. free-form on the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines profile (i.e., IL6 and TNF-α) in the U87 cell line.

The U87 cell line was purchased from the Iranian Biological Resource Center and expanded in the DMEM/F12 media with 10% FBS and 1% Pen/Strep. To synthesize nanoniosome containing curcumin, the thin-film hybridization method was used. To evaluate the production of IL6 and TNF-α by ELISA method, U87 cells were treated with 84.87 µg/ml of Nano-curcumin and 47 µg/ml of free curcumin.

Our results indicated that the production of IL6 and TNF-α was significantly decreased when treated with nano-form and free curcumin. Interestingly, we observed that nano-curcumin could significantly inhibit the secretion of IL6 and TNF-α compared to the curcumin group.

The most obvious finding to emerge from this study is that nano-curcumin exerts antiimflammatory effects on glioblastoma.