Since antiquity, plant products have been used to treat diseases. In fact, a number of currently available prescription medications such as digitalis and quinine are plant derivatives. A new UCLA scientists has found that a synthetic version of the spice curcumin (also known as turmeric) significantly reduced resistance to the chemotherapy drug Cisplatin, which is used to treat head and neck cancer cells. The findings were published online in the journal Oncotarget.
Although, spices such as curcumin have been used for medical treatment for centuries,, the researchers at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center employed the latest technology to deliver the substance to the cancerous cells. They used liposomes, which can be likened to microscopic transport vehicles. The liposomes delivered encapsulated synthetic curcumin to the treatment-resistant head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center members, Drs. Marilene Wang and Eri Srivatsan, led the two-year study that showed that the synthetic curcumin was effective in destroying Cisplatin-resistant head and neck carcinomas. “Cisplatin goes through the p16 and p53 pathways, while the curcumin uses an alternate pathway, explained Dr. Wang, director of the Nasal and Sinus Center at UCLA. She added, “The resistant cell lines don’t respond to the typical pathway that Cisplatin would go through; that’s why curcumin is able to kill the resistant cancer cells.”
Each year, 600,000 people worldwide are stricken with head and neck cancers. That figure includes 42,000 in the United States. The five-year survival rate for all head and neck cancer patients is 57%, and for patients with stage III and IV oral cancers, the survival rate is 10-20%. The authors of the new study are hopeful that their findings will lead to human clinical trials and the development of new therapies for head and neck cancer patients; thus, improving the disease statistics.
