Thursday, April 03, 2008
Anti-Cancer
Abstracted by Susan Sweeny Johnson, PhD, Biochem.,
Oct. 11, 2006, from Wang, X, Wang S, Ives, K, and Evers, B. Curcumin Inhibits Neurotensin-Mediated Interleukin-8 Production and Migration of HCT116 Human Colon Cancer Cells. Clin. Cancer Res. 2006;12(18): 5346-55.
Changing of normal cells into cancer cells, the excessive growth of the cancer cells to form tumors, and the metastasizing of the cancer cells are caused by many different biochemical signals. In the human gut, the excessive production of the compound interleukin-8 by normal cells can initiate inflammation as well as cancer formation and metastasis.
Neurotensin, a peptide hormone secreted into the gut during the consumption of fat, is known to act as a stimulus for normal intestinal cell growth but also as a stimulus for certain common types of colon and pancreatic cancers.
Curcumin, a component of the curry spice tumeric, possesses anti-inflammatory characteristics and has been shown to slow the production of interleukin-8 in normal cells. But the mechanism of its action is not well known.
In a recent study, researchers postulated that neurotensin would stimulate the production of interleukin-8 in a colon cancer cell line causing growth and metastasis of the cancer cells. They also looked at whether or not curcumin could interfere with the action of neurotensin.
They found that neurotensin did indeed stimulate production of interleukin-8, which in turn increased the ability of the cells to metastasize. They also found that relatively low doses of curcumin prevented the production of interleukin-8 stimulated by neurotensin and also reduced the ability of the cancer cells to metastasize.
Clinical trials are currently underway for further study.