“Kills cancer cells and prevents them from spreading to the lungs”… Results of studies using colon cancer cell lines and mice
Research has shown that curcumin in turmeric, the main ingredient of curry, kills colorectal cancer cells and prevents cancer cells from spreading to the lungs.
A research team at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany, announced that curcumin has a therapeutic effect on colorectal cancer as a result of laboratory models using colorectal cancer cell lines and animal models using mice.
According to the research team, in more than 50% of colorectal cancers, an important protective mechanism of cells is inactivated by mutation of a specific gene (tumor suppressor gene p53). This specific gene functions to suppress abnormal division and proliferation of cells and restore damaged cell DNA to normal. Thus, when an important gene that suppresses cancer is mutated, the cell’s protective mechanism malfunctions.
As a result of the study, curcumin in turmeric activates a specific signaling pathway that induces the expression of a specific microRNA molecule (miR-34), enabling important protective mechanisms of cells that have been silenced by mutation to function again. appeared to be
Professor Heiko Hermeking (Experimental Molecular Pathology), lead author of the study, said, “Curcumin makes colon cancer cells age quickly, induces apoptosis (programmed cell death), and inhibits lung metastasis (spreading to the lungs) of colon cancer cells. turned out to be,” he said.
Transcription factors (proteins that regulate the expression of specific genes) that are products of specific genes (tumor suppressor gene p53) induce specific microRNA molecules (miR-34) that play an important role in tumor suppression. Using genetically modified human colorectal cancer cell lines, the research team found that curcumin promotes the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS, a key component that causes cancer cell death) in cancer cells. This ROS activates a signaling pathway that induces the production of a specific microRNA molecule (miR-34) through a transcription factor (NRF2), leading to premature aging and programmed cell death in cancer cells. The research team also confirmed that curcumin prevents metastasis of cancer cells by inducing the expression of a specific microRNA molecule (miR-34) in mouse experiments.
Professor Hermeking said, “The biggest achievement of this research is to uncover the mechanism by which curcumin induces a specific microRNA molecule (miR-34).” He added, “Curcumin has been shown to make tumor cells more sensitive to 5-FU, a chemotherapeutic agent, through miR-34.”
The results of this study (Curcumin activates a ROS/KEAP1/NRF2/miR-34a/b/c cascade to suppress colorectal cancer metastasis) were published in the journal Nature Cell Death & Differentiation.
◇Curcumin is also effective in treating oral cancer, tuberculosis, burns, etc.
Curcumin, a natural substance, accounts for about 3-5% of turmeric. Curmin has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-cancer properties. A study by the University of Denver in the United States showed that curcumin stimulates macrophages (human immune cells) to eliminate tuberculosis bacteria. According to the results of a study at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine, curcumin, when applied in a gel form to burned skin, reduces pain and inflammation and removes scars. According to the results of a study at Emory University Medical School in the United States, curcumin has been shown to have a good effect in the treatment of oral cancer associated with human papillomavirus (HPV).
