Curcumin, a natural
polyphenol compound, exhibits
tumor suppressive activity in a wide spectrum of
cancers, including
nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells. However, the exact molecular mechanisms governing this
tumor suppressive activity remain elusive. Multiple studies have revealed that
miRNAs are critically involved in
tumorigenesis, indicating that targeting
miRNAs could be a therapeutic strategy for treating human
cancer. In the current study, we set out to determine whether
curcumin regulates miR-7 expression in
nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells. We found that
curcumin inhibited cell growth, induced apoptosis, retarded cell migration and invasion, and triggered cell cycle arrest in the human
nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell lines CNE1 and CNE2. Importantly, we observed that
curcumin upregulated the expression of miR-7 and subsequently inhibited Skp2, a direct miR-7 target. Our results identified that upregulation of miR-7 by
curcumin could benefit
nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients.