East Windsor, NJ (June 16, 2015) – Curcumin may provide added benefit in subsets of patients when administered with FOLFOX standard chemotherapy, and is a well-tolerated chemotherapy adjunct, concluded a study conducted by researchers at Leicester University, UK and published in the journal Cancer Letters.
The study, “Curcumin inhibits cancer stem cell phenotypes in ex vivo models of colorectal liver metastases, and is clinically safe and tolerable in combination with FOLFOX chemotherapy utilized Sabinsa’s Curcumin C3 Complex patented curcumin extract”, (August 10, 2015 Volume 364, Issue 2, Pages 135 – 141), which is available to anyone via Open Access funded by Cancer Research UK (http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.canlet.2015.05.005.)
Colorectal cancer patients have a greater risk of cancer spreading to the liver. Sabinsa’s Curcumin C3 Complex® was found by the researchers to be safe and tolerable as an acceptable daily adjunct in a phase I dose escalation study on colorectal cancer with liver metastatic spread. In the trial protocol Curcumin C3 Complex® was tolerated well with 2g/day dose with standard FOLFOX chemotherapy (combination of 5-Flurouracil and Oxaliplatin, two chemotherapeutic drugs). The researchers wrote that the addition of curcumin to FOLFOX treatment was well tolerated with compliance rate of 93.8%.
The researchers further found that the addition of curcumin to FOLFOX-based chemotherapy enhanced efficacy as judged from studies done on patient-derived colorectal liver metastasis indicating a promise for such treatment in situations wherein colon cancer can spread to the liver. The researchers demonstrated that curcumin alone and in combination with chemotherapy exerted anti-proliferative and pro-apoptic (killing) effects on cancer stem cells derived from the patients. The researchers plan to extend the studies further based on the promising results obtained.
“This commitment to research for both Curcumin and in particular for Sabinsa's C3 Complex is another reason for why, time and again, researchers, marketing companies and customers choose our ingredient,” said Shaheen Majeed, Marketing Director, Sabinsa. “This is one among half a dozen studies where Curcumin C3 Complex® has been safe and effectively used to improve chemotherapeutic activity.”
This research was supported by two studentships from Hope Against Cancer, Leicester, UK, The Royal College of Surgeons (Eng), The Bowel Disease Research Foundation, by Cancer Research UK on a programme grant [C325/A13101] and by Cancer Research UK in conjunction with the Department of Health on an Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre grant [C325/A15575].
