Fig. 1
Effects of curcumin analog WZ35 on cell viability and apoptosis in human prostate cancer cells. a The chemical structure of curcumin and curcumin analog WZ35. b–c The effects of WZ35 or curcumin on cell viability in human prostate cancer cells. PC-3 cells or DU145 cells were treated with WZ35 or curcumin at different concentration ranges as indicated for 48 h, then cell viability was determined by MTT assay, the IC50 was indicated. d Representative images for cell apoptosis stained with Annexin V-FITC/PI. Cells were treated with WZ35 at different concentrations as indicated or curcumin (20 μM) for 24 h, then cells were stained with Annexin V-FITC/PI and analyzed by flow cytometry as described in methods. e Western blot analysis for expression of apoptosis-associated proteins in cells treated with or without WZ35 or curcumin. Cells were treated with WZ35 at different concentrations as indicated or curcumin (20 μM) for 24 h, the cell lysates were processed for western blot analysis for protein expression of Bcl-2, Bax, pre-caspase 3, cleaved-PARP, and GAPDH used as a loading control. The statistic data were presented as mean ± S.E from three independent experiments. *, p < 0.05, **, p <0.01; all versus DMSO group