Specific Irreversible Cell-Cycle Arrest and Depletion of Cancer Cells Obtained by Combining Curcumin and the Flavonoids Quercetin and Fisetin.

Induced senescence could be exploited to selectively counteract the proliferation of cancer cells and target them for senolysis. We examined the cellular senescence induced by curcumin and whether it could be targeted by fisetin and quercetin, flavonoids with senolytic activity. Cell-cycle profiles, chromosome number and structure, and heterochromatin markers were evaluated via flow cytometry, metaphase spreads, and immunofluorescence, respectively.