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Cancer Issues Author: Staff Editor Last Updated: Sep 7, 2017 - 10:06:33 PM



BCM-95 Curcumin Improves Cancer Chemotherapy Treatment

By Staff Editor
Feb 5, 2014 - 5:52:10 PM



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Especially useful for chemo resistance

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - DALLAS, TX, February 5, 2014-A recently published study has shown that a special form of curcumin (BCM-95®) may improve cancer treatment, both directly with its activity against cancer cells, and indirectly by sensitizing cancer cells to the effects of chemotherapy. In a cancer preventative role, BCM-95 Curcumin was also shown to reduce cellular DNA damage that can lead to cancer. [Shakibaei M, Buhrmann C, Kraehe P, Shayan P, Lueders C, Goel A. (2014) Curcumin Chemosensitizes 5-Fluorouracil Resistant MMR-Deficient Human Colon Cancer Cells in High Density Cultures. PLoS ONE 9(1): e85397. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0085397].

The study involved colorectal cancer cells that were treated with either 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU), which is a common chemotherapeutic agent used for colorectal cancer, or a combination of 5-FU and curcumin.

"One of the problems with chemotherapy is that cancer cells can become resistant to its effects, so higher and higher doses of the chemo must be used. This results in a great deal of damage to healthy tissue and an increase in serious adverse effects. We wanted to see how curcumin might improve chemotherapy's ability to kill cancer cells," said Ajay Goel, Ph.D., Director of Epigenetics and Cancer Prevention, Baylor Research Institute, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, TX, one of the study's authors.

"Curcumin was able to induce death in colorectal cancer cells that have become resistant to chemotherapy, even super-high doses of toxic chemotherapy. The ability of this form of curcumin to chemo-sensitize and induce death in these cells that can evade even the notoriously toxic chemo drugs is significant," he said. "It demonstrates that curcumin can regulate many more cancer-targets within cancer cells, which conventional chemotherapy fails to do. Additionally, curcumin specifically helped kill colon cancer stem cells. Cancer stem cells are the Achilles Heel of cancer chemotherapy, because patients may respond to chemotherapy initially, but experience tumor recurrence and/or resistance to chemotherapy subsequently. The ability of curcumin to help kill cancer stem cells is unique, and very encouraging."

When asked about prevention, Dr. Goel said, "About 15% of all colon cancers have a defect in their DNA proofreading machinery, also called the DNA mismatch repair (MMR) system. Cancers with this defect have compromised proofreading when new DNA is formed, and this allows accumulation of lots of mutations in key genes and permits the growth of cancer cells.  In this study, we found that curcumin can help kill these DNA MMR defective cells as well."

It is important to note that the form of curcumin used in the study, BCM-95 Curcumin, has unique specifications, including high absorption and inclusion of turmeric essential oil, which is not found in standard curcumin. Therefore, results may not apply to other forms of curcumin.

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