Radiosensitive effect of curcumin on thyroid cancer cell death induced by radioiodine-131

Curcumin is a natural product widely consumed by humans. It has many biological properties. In this study, we investigated the radiosensitive effect of curcumin on thyroid cancer cells against cellular toxicity induced by 131-I. Human thyroid cancer and human non-malignant fibroblast cells (HFFF2) were treated with 131-I and/or curcumin at different concentrations (5, 10 and 25 µg/ml) for 48 h. The cell proliferation was measured by determination of the surviving cells by using MTT assay. Our results showed that curcumin increased the killing effect of 131-I on thyroid cancer cells, while it exerted no toxicity on HFFF2 cells. This result shows a promising effect of curcumin on the enhancement of therapeutic effects of 131-I in patients.