Curry Spice Shuts Down Melanoma

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Curry Spice Shuts Down Melanoma

HealthDay

 

Health: Alternative Medicine News

 

July 11, 2005 08:40:42 PM PST

By Kathleen Doheny

HealthDay Reporter

 

MONDAY, July 11 (HealthDay News) -- Curcumin, the ingredient that

gives curry its yellow hue, blocked the growth of melanoma tumor cells

and even stimulated their death in the laboratory, researchers report.

 

"We could completely inhibit the growth of the tumor if we used a big

enough dose," said study co-author Bharat B. Aggarwal, chief of the

Cytokine Research Section in the Department of Experimental

Therapeutics at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in

Houston. His report is set to appear in the Aug. 15 issue of Cancer.

 

Aggarwal and his colleagues exposed three different cell lines of

melanoma to curcumin, which is found in turmeric, a spice used in

curry dishes. Exposure to curcumin decreased the cell viability of all

three cell lines, they found.

 

They zeroed in on a molecule called NF-kappa B, which is known to be

overactive in several types of tumors, including melanoma. The

turmeric shut down the molecule and that lead to inhibition of the

tumor growth, Aggarwal explained.

 

In other preliminary research, including some by Aggarwal's team,

turmeric has proven useful in treating multiple myeloma, as well as

breast and pancreatic cancers.

 

The new findings were praised by Costas Koumenis, an associate

professor of radiation oncology at Wake Forest University School of

Medicine. "I think it's an interesting and provocative study," he

said. "It shows some new insight into how turmeric is working to

inhibit the growth of melanoma cells."

 

Koumenis is studying whether curcumin can be used to enhance radiation

therapy in deadly brain tumors called gliomas and other tumors in animals.

 

The Texas researchers also pinpointed exactly how the spice ingredient

works to kill tumor cells, he said. "It gives us a better

understanding of the mechanism of how it works to inhibit melanoma

growth."

 

But he cautioned that the study was done in the lab, and the spice

must be tested on animals, and eventually people, before it is proven

to be effective.

 

For the past 20 years, Koumenis said, turmeric has been studied,

mostly as an agent to prevent cancer. For instance, some researchers

have found an association between diets rich in curcumin and reduced

rates of colon cancer. But more recently, the focus has shifted to

study the spice as a cancer treatment.