HonCode

Go Back   HER2 Support Group Forums > Articles of Interest
Register Gallery FAQ Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 10-18-2005, 09:51 PM   #1
Lani
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
More on Curcumin

Curcumin halts spread of breast cancer in mice - Early study shows spice stunts deadly spread to lungs

17 Oct 2005



Curcumin, the main ingredient of turmeric and the compound that gives curry its mustard-yellow color, inhibits metastasis to the lungs of mice with breast cancer, report researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

The study, to be published in the Oct. 15 issue of the journal Clinical Cancer Research, reports that the spice appears to shut down a protein active in the spread of breast cancer to a major target for metastasis.

Though the study results are early, researchers found that the nontoxic natural substance not only repelled progression of the disease to the lungs, but also appeared to reverse the effects of paclitaxel (TaxolTM), a commonly prescribed chemotherapy for breast cancer that may trigger spread of the disease with use over a long period of time.

Because Taxol is so toxic, it activates a protein that produces an inflammatory response that induces metastasis. Curcumin suppresses this response, making it impossible for the cancer to spread. In fact, researchers found that adding curcumin to Taxol actually enhances its effect. Curcumin breaks down the dose, making the therapy less toxic and just as powerful while delivering the same level of efficacy.

"We are excited about the results of the study and the possible implications for taking the findings into the clinic in the next several years," says Bharat Aggarwal, Ph.D., professor of cancer medicine in M. D. Anderson's Department of Experimental Therapeutics. "At this time, advanced breast cancer is a difficult foe to fight with few proven treatments available after surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy."

Taxol is currently used as the front-line chemotherapeutic agent in breast cancers, but because the drug frequently induces drug resistance after prolonged use, it is not effective in treating metastatic breast cancer, says Aggarwal.

Researchers studied 60 mice with breast cancer, which were randomly assigned to one of four groups: control group, Taxol only, curcumin only and the combination of Taxol and curcumin. After the tumors grew to 10 mm (about the size of a pea), they were surgically removed, and the mice were fed a powdered curcumin diet.

Macroscopic lung metastasis, or metastasis that is visible to the naked eye, was seen in 96 percent of the mice in the control group. Treatment using Taxol alone only "modestly reduced" the incidence of metastases, while the group using curcumin alone and curcumin plus Taxol "significantly reduced" both the incidence and numbers of visible lung metastases.

Microscopic metastasis, or metastasis that is visible only when using a microscope, was found in the lungs of 28 percent of mice treated with the combination of curcumin and Taxol, and there was no macroscopic disease present. The micrometastases present consisted of only a few cells, suggesting that the combination inhibited the growth of breast cancer tumor cells that were in the lung before the tumors were removed.

In a previous study published in the Aug. 15 issue of the journal Cancer, M. D. Anderson researchers found that when the nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB) (a powerful protein known to promote the inflammatory response necessary to cause breast cancer to spread) is shut down, cancer strains are unable to grow and cells are pushed to commit suicide.

The mechanism in this curcumin study works the same way. Taxol activated the NF-kB in breast cancer cells, while curcumin stopped this activation by blocking the protein known as "IKK" that switched on the NF-kB, demonstrating how curcumin and Taxol work against one another. Taxol produced the inflammatory response, triggering metastasis, and curcumin suppressed it, causing cell death.

Extracted from the roots of the curcuma longa plant, curcumin is a member of the ginger family. While it is not used in conventional medicine, it is widely prescribed in Indian medicine as a potent remedy for liver disorders, rheumatism, diabetic wounds, runny nose, cough and sinusitis. Traditional Chinese medicine uses curcumin as a treatment for diseases associated with abdominal pain, and it is used in ancient Hindu medicine as a treatment for sprains and swelling.

According to the American Cancer Society, the chance of a woman having invasive breast cancer sometime during her life is one in eight. About 211,240 women in the United States will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in 2005, and approximately 40,410 women will die from the disease this year.

The study was funded by the United States Department of Defense. Co-authors include Shishir Shishodia, Ph.D.; Yasunari Takada, Ph.D.; Sanjeev Banerjee, Ph.D.; Robert A. Newman, Ph.D.; Carlos Bueso-Ramos, M.D., Ph.D.; and Janet E. Price, Ph.D.
  Reply With Quote
Old 10-19-2005, 11:46 AM   #2
uma
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 26
Zyflamend, which contains extract of curcumin has been recommended to me by my friends, and I am taking it. It is available in any Health Food store. Anybody knows if Curcumin or Turmaric as it is known , is good for Her2/Neu ?.
Uma
uma is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-19-2005, 12:05 PM   #3
Rich
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Yes..I want to know hwether it' sgood for her2/er+ patients on Arimidex. Seems liek it would be since it's not been said to be estrogenic. Can we assume tah teh protein it inhibits is worth blocking in all types of BC?
Interesting how I never heard of Taxol being a cancer promoter at some level.
my head continues to spin.....
  Reply With Quote
Old 10-19-2005, 12:24 PM   #4
RhondaH
Senior Member
 
RhondaH's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Posts: 1,516
Smile

I sprinkle Tumeric and Oregano (another cancer fighter) on my salad every day.


Rhonda Hoffman
RhondaH is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-15-2005, 04:34 AM   #5
sarah
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: france
Posts: 1,648
Don't forget to take the curcumin/tumeric with a meal since it can potentially eat a whole in your stomach if it's empty and you're taking it often. Wonder what the ratio of bc is in India?
sarah is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-15-2005, 03:12 PM   #6
Unregistered
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
This may help and arouse you curiosity to look further if you have time.

I have only skimmed a few contained in the link below but found this which may help.

I also attach the search link on the NCBI site "Curcumin brest cancer". I suggest you have a quick look. The last coouple of lines usually give the general gist. It does not matter if you dont understand most of it (I often don't) the terms will become more familiar with time, and more important it gives you a better sense of where general opinion / results on a given subject are heading - split opinion - good - bad - dont know. In this case they generally seem to be heading in the positive direction.

1. It shows what a great resource NCBI is.

2. It shows how enormously complex the subject of treatment is, and how interdependent things are.



http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...080&query_hl=1

1: Zhonghua Yi Xue Za Zhi. 2003 Oct 25;83(20):1764-8. Related Articles, Links

[Analysis of anti-proliferation of curcumin on human breast cancer cells and its mechanism]

[Article in Chinese]

Di GH, Li HC, Shen ZZ, Shao ZM.

Breast Surgery Department of Cancer Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.

OBJECTIVE: To study the suppressive effects of curcumin on breast carcinoma cells and the mechanism. METHODS: Estrogen receptor (ER) positive human breast cancer line MCF-7 and ER negative human breast cancer line MDA-MB-231 were cultured 17-beta estradiol and curcumin were added into the culture. Northern blot hybridization and Western blots were performed to detect the expression of mRNA and protein. The human ERE promoter activity was analyzed by transient transfection with CAT-reporter constructs. Invasion experiments were conducted with a Matrigel invasion chamber. RESULTS: Curcumin inhibit the proliferation in both estrogen receptor (ER) positive MCF-7 cells and ER negative MDA-MB-231 cells. Curcumin's antiproliferative effects are estrogen dependent in ER positive MCF-7 cells. Curcumin inhibits the expression of ER downstream genes including pS2 and TGF-alpha (transforming growth factor-alpha) in ER-positive MCF-7 cells, and this inhibition is also dependent on the presence of estrogen. In addition, curcumin exerts strong anti-invasive effects in vitro which was not estrogen dependent in the ER-negative MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. These anti-invasive effects appeared to be mediated through the down-regulation of MMP-2 (matrix metalloproteinase) and the up-regulation of TIMP-1 (tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase). Curcumin inhibited the transcript levels of two major angiogenesis factors VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) and b-FGF (basic fibroblast growth factor) in ER-negative MDA-MB-231 cells. CONCLUSION: Curcumin exerts multiple suppressive effects on breast carcinoma cells;it's mechanism of chemoprevention is pleiotropic.

PMID: 14642080 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]



http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...+breast+cancer
  Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 08:36 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright HER2 Support Group 2007 - 2021
free webpage hit counter