Curcumin inhibits in vitro MCP-1 release from mouse pancreatic islets

Objectives. Monocyte chemoattractant proteins (MCP-1) belongs to the C-C family of chemokines secreted from islets of the pancreas, producing recruitment of inflammatory cells leading to an acute immune response with graft rejection in clinical transplantation. Expression and release of many inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, including MCP-1 is regulated by the nuclear factor (NF)-kappa B pathway. Curcumin is an NF-kappa B inhibitor with a variety of biological activities anti-inflammatory, antitumor, antioxidant, and antichemotactic effects. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of curcumin on in vitro MCP-1 release from pancreatic islets. Methods. Mouse pancreatic islets in 18-hour cultures were treated with 0 or 10 or 20 mu mol/L curcurnin and with LPS for an additional 24 hours. MCP-1 levels in culture supernates of islets with versus without curcurnin treatment were measured by an ELISA assay. Results. We observed that curcurnin at the concentration of 20 mu mol/L significantly decreased MCP-1 release from mouse islets compared to the control group (P = .005). In addition at both of 10 mu mol/L and 20 mu mol/L curcurnin concentrations there was a decreased level of MCP-1 released from LPS-treated versus control islets (P = .01).