Neuroblastoma (NB),2 the most frequent extra cranial solid tumor in children (aged Յ5 years) accounts for 8 -10% of all childhood cancers (1) and 15% of childhood cancer fatalities. To that note, NB recurrences remain high (20.2%), and a substantial fraction (46.8%) of those develop metastatic disease. With only 13 months from first diagnosis to recurrence, the survival ratio was 43% for local and 10% for systemic recurrences. Clinical and laboratory evidence suggests that several human cancers contain populations of rapidly proliferating clonogens that can have substantial impact on local control following chemoradiation or radiotherapy (RT) (2). Tumor cell repopulation may arise from remnant cells of the original neoplasm that have escaped therapeutic intervention and later become visible at the original site. RT is now widely used for high risk NB patients after chemotherapy, and the survival rate is significantly improved (76%) by using RT with chemother-

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This manuscript has been published online, prior to printing.Once the issue is complete and page numbers have been assigned, the citation will change accordingly.Curcumin has been shown to exhibit growth inhibitory effects and induce apoptosis in a broad range of tumors. Accordingly, we investigated the radiosensitizing effects of curcumin in human neuroblastoma cells. SK-N-MC cells exposed to either 2 Gy alone, or pretreated with curcumin (100 nM) or NFκB inhibitor peptide SN50 (50 nM) and exposed to 2 Gy were harvested after 48 h. Radioresistance was measured using clonogenic and MTT assay, NFκB DNA-binding activity using electrophoretic mobility shift assay, and apoptosis using Annexin V-FITC staining. Pathway (apoptosis) specific microarrays were used to measure gene expression and validated using QPCR. Radiation markedly enhanced the NFκB DNA-binding activity. Pre-treating the cells either with curcumin or SN50 significantly suppressed the radiation induced NFκB. Also, curcumin or SN50 pretreatment enhanced the radiation induced inhibition of cell survival. Microarray analysis revealed that curcumin enhanced the radiation induced activation of caspases, other pro-apoptotic and death effector molecules and, inhibit anti-apoptotic/survival molecules. In addition, curcumin markedly suppressed the radiation induced TNF super family genes. These results suggest that curcumin is a potent radiosensitizer and may act by overcoming the effects of radiation-induced NFκB mediated pro-survival gene expression in neuroblastoma.

These data strongly imply that CUR, NLE, and RSE may serve as effective "deliverables" to potentiate RT in PC cure and further throw light that these phytochemicals-induced cell killing may involve selective regulation of RT-induced NF-κB.

BackgroundDetermining the driving factors and molecular flow-through that define the switch from favorable to aggressive high-risk disease is critical to the betterment of neuroblastoma cure.MethodsIn this study, we examined the cytogenetic and tumorigenic physiognomies of distinct population of metastatic site- derived aggressive cells (MSDACs) from high-risk tumors, and showed the influence of acquired genetic rearrangements on poor patient outcomes.ResultsKaryotyping in SH-SY5Y and MSDACs revealed trisomy of 1q, with additional non-random chromosomal rearrangements on 1q32, 8p23, 9q34, 15q24, 22q13 (additions), and 7q32 (deletion). Array CGH analysis of individual clones of MSDACs revealed genetic alterations in chromosomes 1, 7, 8, and 22, corresponding to a gain in the copy numbers of LOC100288142, CD1C, CFHR3, FOXP2, MDFIC, RALYL, CSMD3, SAMD12-AS1, and MAL2, and a loss in ADAM5, LOC400927, APOBEC3B, RPL3, MGAT3, SLC25A17, EP300, L3MBTL2, SERHL, POLDIP3, A4GALT, and TTLL1. QPCR analysis and immunoblotting showed a definite association between DNA-copy number changes and matching transcriptional/translational expression in clones of MSDACs. Further, MSDACs exert a stem-like phenotype. Under serum-free conditions, MSDACs demonstrated profound tumorosphere formation ex vivo. Moreover, MSDACs exhibited high tumorigenic capacity in vivo and prompted aggressive metastatic disease. Tissue microarray analysis coupled with automated IHC revealed significant association of RALYL to the tumor grade in a cohort of 25 neuroblastoma patients. Clinical outcome association analysis showed a strong correlation between the expression of CFHR3, CSMD3, MDFIC, FOXP2, RALYL, POLDIP3, SLC25A17, SERHL, MGAT3, TTLL1, or LOC400927 and overall and relapse-free survival in patients with neuroblastoma.ConclusionTogether, these data highlight the ongoing acquired genetic rearrangements in undifferentiated tumor-forming neural crest cells, and suggest that these alterations could switch favorable neuroblastoma to high-risk aggressive disease, promoting poor clinical outcomes.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-015-1463-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Synthetic curcuminoid EF24 was studied for its effect on the maturation and inflammatory response in murine bone marrow derived immortalized JAWS II dendritic cells (DCs). EF24 reduced the expression of LPS-induced MHC class II, CD80 and CD86 molecules. It also abrogated the appearance of dendrites, a typical characteristic of mature DCs. These effects were accompanied by the inhibition of LPS-induced activation of transcription factor nuclear factor kappa-light-chain enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB). Simultaneous reduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines [tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, IL-6] both at the mRNA and secreted levels was also observed. To investigate the dependency of LPS effects on MyD88 adaptor protein, we transfected JAWS II DCs with dominant negative MyD88 plasmid construct (MyD88-DN). EF24 reduced NF-κB activity and TNF-α secretion in a MyD88-dependent manner. These results suggest that EF24 modulates DCs by suppressing their maturation and reducing the secretion of inflammatory cytokines. Further, it appears that EF24 acts at or upstream of MyD88 in the LPS-TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB pathway.

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Purpose-We recently reported that curcumin attenuates radiation (IR) induced survival signaling and proliferation in human neuroblastoma (NB) cells. Also, in endothelial system, we demonstrated that NFκB regulates IR-induced telomerase activity (TA). Accordingly, we investigated the effect of curcumin in inhibiting IR-induced NFκB dependent hTERT transcription, TA and cell survival in NB cells.Methods and Materials-SK-N-MC or SH-SY5Y cells exposed to IR, treated with curcumin (10nM-100nM) with or without IR were harvested after 1h through 24h. NFκB dependent regulation was investigated either by luciferase reporter assays using pNFκB-, pGL3-354-, pGL3-347-, pUSE-IκBα-Luc, p50/p65 or RelA siRNA transfected cells. NFκB activity was analyzed using EMSA and hTERT expression using QPCR. TA was determined using TRAP assay and, cell survival using MTT and clonogenic assay.Results-Curcumin profoundly inhibited IR-induced NFκB. Consequently, curcumin significantly inhibited IR-induced TA and hTERT mRNA at all time points investigated. Furthermore, IR-induced TA is regulated at the transcriptional level by triggering TERT promoter activation. Moreover, NFκB becomes functionally activated after IR and mediates TA upregulation by binding to the κB-binding region in the promoter region of the TERT gene. Consistently, elimination of NFκB-recognition site on telomerase promoter or inhibition of NFκB by IκBα mutant compromises IR-induced telomerase promoter activation. Significantly, curcumin inhibited IR-induced TERT transcription. Consequently, Curcumin inhibited hTERT mRNA and TA in NFκB overexpressed cells. Furthermore, curcumin enhanced the IR-induced inhibition of cell survival.Conclusions-These results strongly suggest that curcumin inhibits IR-induced TA in an NFκB dependent manner in human NB cells.