Evaluation on anti-cancer activity in vitro of curcumin supramolecular inclusion complex

The anti-cancer activity of curcumin supramolecular inclusion complex was evaluated. The cell viability of different cancer cells(A375 cells,A549 cells,Hela cells and MCF-7 cells)exposed to different concentrations of curcumin supramolecular inclusion complex(40,80,160,320,640 μg/mL)for different time(24,48,72 h)was measured by Cell Counting Kit-8(CCK-8)assay. Furthermore,the reason of inclusion complex inhibiting cancer cells growth was measured by Annexin-V/PI staining assay. The results showed that the cell viability of four cancer cells gradually decreased with the increasing of concentration and treatment time of inclusion complex. And inclusion complex exhibited the strongest inhibitory effect on A375 cells,and IC₅₀ of inclusion complex reached to minimum as 476.4 μg/mL. Further studies by Annexin-V/PI staining assay showed that after treatment of the A375 cells with inclusion complex,the ratios of apoptotic cells increased from 3.3%(control group)to 35.0% with the increasing of concentration of inclusion complex,indicating that inclusion complex inhibited A375 cells growth through induction of apoptosis.