 |
| Top 5 Product Reviews |
|
| |
| |
Standardized Cup Sizes
Breast Size 32aa
Celebrity example Mena Suvari
Breast Size 34A
Celebrity example Audrey Hepburn
Breast Size 36B
Celebrity example Claudia Schiffer
Breast Size 34C
Celebrity example Angelina Jolie
Breast Size 40D
Celebrity example Catherine Bell
Breast Size 40F
Celebrity Example Anna Nicole
Smith Breast Size EE
Celebrity Example Dolly Parton |
| |
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
Curcumin halts spread of breast cancer in mice
Curcumin halts spread of breast cancer in mice
October 17, 2005
HOUSTON-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.
University of Texas M. D.
Anderson Cancer
Center
[ Comment, Edit or Article Submission ]
.
|
|
|
