Abstract: Objective To investigate the inhibitory effects of curcumin against HeLa cell invasion and migration and explore the
underlying mechanisms. Methods HeLa cells were exposed to curcumin treatment at the concentrations of 0, 10, 25, 50, 100,
150 and 200 μmol/L for 24 h. MTT and TUNEL assays were used to assess the cell proliferation inhibition and apoptosis,
respectively. Transwell assay was used to evaluate the invasiveness and migration of the treated cells, and RT-PCR and
Western blotting were employed to detect the changes in the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and MMP-9
and E-cad, the 2 markers of cell invasion and migration, were detected by Western blotting. The capacity of NO production in
HeLa cells was measured by Griess method. Results Curcumin inhibited the proliferation of HeLa cells by inducing cell
apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner. Curcumin inhibited the invasion and migration of HeLa cells by increasing
E-cad expression and decreasing MMP-9 expression, and also decreased the expression level of iNOS and NO production in
the cells. Conclusions Curcumin inhibits the invasion and migration of HeLa cells by decreasing the expression of iNOS.