analysis of cytotoxic activity and synergistic effect of curcuma longa extract in combination with prednisolone on acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell lines

Background: curcuma longa (cl) extract is a natural compound derived from the roots of curcuma longa. prednisolone is a synthetic glucocorticoid and one of the most important pharmaceutical agents used for treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. methods: we investigated the cytotoxic effect of curcuma longa extract and the synergistic effect of curcuma longa extract in combination with prednisolone on acute lymphoblastic leukemia nalm-6 and reh cell lines. results: the obtained results of this research revealed that cl extract led to the death of nalm-6 and reh cells, while prednisolone demonstrated cytotoxic effects solely on the nalm-6 cells. in addition, after combining cl extract and prednisolone, the synergistic effect was observed only on nalm-6 cells. the outcome of treatment on normal mdbk cells was the viability of most of the cells. cl extract induced apoptosis and increased expression of the bax gene and caspase-3 activity. it also reduced bcl-2 gene expression in nalm-6 cells, and the aforementioned effects were amplified in the presence of prednisolone. in reh cells, cl extract induced apoptosis and increased bax gene expression and caspase-3 activity. it also reduced expression of the bcl-2 gene. conclusions: in general, our findings suggest that cl extract has cytotoxic effects on acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells and it also amplifies the cytotoxic effect of prednisolone on nalm-6 cells.