Kaempferia parviflora extract inhibits TNF-α-induced release of MCP-1 in ovarian cancer cells through the suppression of NF-κB signaling.

Ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC) is an uncommon subtype of epithelial cell ovarian cancers (EOCs) that has poor response to conventional platinum-based therapy. Therefore, finding new potential therapeutic agents is required. Since inflammatory cytokine, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), is strongly expressed in EOCs and associated with the level of tumor grade, disruption of this inflammation pathway may provide another potential target for OCCC treatment. We previously reported that Kaempferia parviflora (KP) extract decreased cell proliferation and induced apoptosis. However, the effects of KP on OCCC, especially the aspects related to inflammatory cytokines, have not been elucidated. Our current study demonstrated the effects of KP extract on cytokine production in TNF-α-induced OCCC TOV-21G cell line. This study showed that KP extract inhibited interleukin 6 (IL-6) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) production at both transcription and translation levels via the suppression of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signal transduction. In contrast, KP extract increased the expression of inhibitor kappa B (IκB) protein which may delay NF-κB translocation into the nucleus upon TNF-α activation. Moreover, the suppression of cytokines released from KP treated-TOV-21G reduced the migration of monocyte cell (THP-1). KP extract also exhibited the inhibition of IL-6 and MCP-1 production from THP-1 activated by lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Cells treated with KP extract exhibited a decrease in extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK1/2) and protein kinase B (AKT) phosphorylation and induced myeloid leukemia cell differentiation protein Mcl-1 (MCL-1) expression. Suppression of inflammatory cytokine and chemokine production and inhibition of tumor-associated macrophage (TAM) migration support the possibility of using KP for OCCC treatment.