Figure 11.

Nanocurcumin blocks activation of nuclear factor kappa B in pancreatic cancer cell lines. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) or "gel shift" assay for assessment of NFκB inhibition in pancreatic cancer cell lines. Nuclear extracts were prepared from free curcumin (FC) and nanocurcumin (NC)-treated BxPC3 and MiaPaca cells, after 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours and 16 hours (overnight) exposure to the respective formulation. Inhibition of NFκB function is gauged by faster migration (i.e., absence of NFκB binding) of the radio-labeled kappa-binding oligonucleotide. In BxPC3 cells, inhibition of NFκB is seen as early as 1–2 hours following curcumin exposure in both free and nanoparticulate formulations. In contrast, in MiaPaca cells, inhibition of binding and consequent gel shift is seen only after overnight incubation in the nanocurcumin-treated cells, while no discernible gel shift is apparent in the free curcumin treated cells. TPA-activated Jurkat cells were used as positive control and untreated cells as negative control.