Beschreibung:
<jats:p>Curcumin, a principal compound found in the spice tumeric, has shown to be a natural inhibitor of the inflammatory nuclear factor‐kB pathway. NF‐kB is a transcription factor involved in the upregulation of pro‐inflammatory and anti‐apoptotic genes. In cancer cells, NF‐kB remains constitutively active, preventing the initition of apoptosis. By inhibiting NF‐kB activation and its translocation into the nucleus, it is possible to turn on this apoptotic pathway. Due to curcumin's low potency and poor absorption characteristics it's clinical potential remains limited, so newly developed curcumin analogues that can be administered effectively at lower doses and with relatively low toxcity have become the targets of much current research. Coumarin, which is found in pepper, has also been shown to cause apoptosis in liver cancer cell lines. This study focuses on the effects of novel curcumin and coumarin analogues on inhibiting the NF‐kB pathway and promoting apoptosis is human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines (HepG2) and compare these to the inhibitory effects of natural curcumin, by conducting Western blot analysis to detect for individual proteins and caspase assays to differentiate between apoptosis and necrotic cell death</jats:p>