Curry powder could fight cancer

Curry powder helps to beat cancer: Spice can slow the growth of tumours and make drugs more powerful, finds study, paving the way for new treatments

• Curcumin, a chemical in turmeric, could make cancer drugs more effective
• It slows down the growth of cancer cells by stopping their reproduction 
• A study on mice showed curcumin ‘significantly’ reduced tumour sizes in mice

A chemical in curry powder could fight cancer, according to research.

Scientists suggest curcumin, a chemical in turmeric which gives the curry powder its yellow colour, could slow the growth of tumours in breast and blood cancers.

It does this by making cancer cells less able to break down or destroy other cells.

Although the researchers from the University of California say eating the spice or supplements will not fight cancer, the discovery could lead to new treatments.

And curcumin, which has been thought in the past to have cancer-fighting abilities, may actually be 500 times stronger than previously thought.

Lab tests found when it is combined with a commonly used drug for a specific type of blood cancer, curcumin made it work better while also reducing side effects.

The researchers say their findings, from experiments on mice, are ‘unexpected’ and they now hope to develop a targeted cancer drug using the curcumin.  

Curcumin is a chemical found in turmeric, and gives the powder its yellow colour

• 
  Children in the UK consume more energy drinks than anywhere…

  
  Could fasting every other day help people with multiple…

  
  Man, 60, may lose all his limbs to a flesh-eating bacteria…

  
  Want to learn a new skill? Exercise for 15 minutes after…

Share this article

Curcumin could be used to fight cancer because when in the blood stream it binds to a specific type of enzyme called DYRK2 and, when the two are connected, cells cannot reproduce as quickly.

A hallmark of cancer is its ability to grow quickly and uncontrollably, but this could be slowed down by curcumin, the researchers say. 

CURCUMIN COULD CURE ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION

Scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York revealed this year they had designed a cream which could rid men of erection problems.

The cream contains curcumin – a chemical found in turmeric that gives curry its yellowish look. 

The ointment seeps through the skin and dilates blood vessels supplying a man’s groin area.

To make the ointment the spice was ground into particles 100 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair – allowing them to seep through skin and into tiny blood vessels, called capillaries, under the skin.

Scientists mixed the particles with water to make a thin paste and rubbed it on rats’ tummies regularly for two weeks.

Tests showed the animals had better erections and increased blood flow, according to results published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.

But eating plates of curry is highly unlikely to have the same effect, as much of the love-boosting spice gets destroyed in the stomach.

Curcumin ‘significantly’ reduces the size of tumours 

On a study in mice using curcumin ‘significantly’ reduced the size of tumours and stopped it spreading as much.

Researcher Sourav Banerjee said: ‘In general, curcumin is expelled from the body quite fast. 

‘For curcumin to be an effective drug, it needs to be modified to enter the blood stream and stay in the body long enough to target the cancer. 

‘Owing to various chemical drawbacks, curcumin on its own may not be sufficient to completely reverse cancer in human patients.’

Chemical could work against blood or breast cancer

The study was done on mice with multiple myeloma – a cancer of the white blood cells – or triple negative breast cancer, which makes up about 15 per cent of breast cancer cases.

In the past curcumin was thought to fight cancer cells by binding to different enzymes, but when it attaches to DYRK2 it is 500 times more effective.

Co-author Jack Dixon added: ‘Our results reveal an unexpected role of curcumin [and] may offer new opportunities for hard-to-treat triple-negative breast cancer and multiple myeloma treatment. 

‘Our primary focus is to develop a chemical compound that can target DYRK2 in patients with these cancers.’

Combining curcumin with approved medication kills more cancer cells 

The researchers combined curcumin with cafrilzomib – a drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for patients with multiple myeloma.

Combining the two caused more cancer cells to die and normal cells were less affected, meaning curcumin could one day lead to a more powerful drug with fewer side effects.

Source: Read Full Article