By Barry Copping
Posted 30 August 2012
Curcumin from turmeric features in novel drug formulation
In a double benefit from nanotechnology, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (HCCNE) have created a polymer nanoparticle that overcomes the resistance of tumours to the common anticancer agent doxorubicin.
It also protects the heart against drug-triggered damage, a therapy-ending side effect that limits doxorubicins effectiveness. The nanoparticle incorporates both doxorubicin and curcumin, a major component of the bright yellow spice turmeric.
The work was led by Anirban Maitra. Recent studies had shown that high doses of curcumin could overcome the resistance to multiple anticancer agents that many, if not most, tumours develop over time. However curcumin is only poorly soluble in the bloodstream, so getting high enough levels of the agent to tumours was challenging.
Maitras approach to solving this problem was to use polymer nanoparticles to deliver curcumin to tumours. The teams latest paper describes how both in vitro and animal tests demonstrated that a dual curcumin/doxorubicin formulation showed striking anticancer activity in models of multiple myeloma, leukaemia, prostate cancer and ovarian cancer.
Perhaps equally important, the animals treated with the nanoparticle did not experience any cardiac toxicity or bone marrow suppression. This was the case even at cumulative doses that normally trigger cardiac toxicity by free doxorubicin or liposome-encapsulated doxorubicin. These were the first two nanoparticle drug formulations approved for use in treating cancer in humans; they are widely used in treating breast cancer. Further examination of the heart-protecting characteristics of the dual formulation showed that encapsulating doxorubicin in a polymer nanoparticle spared heart muscle cells from the oxidative stress normally triggered by doxorubicin.
The work is reported in the peer-reviewed journal Oncotarget.
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Here is the original post:
Polymer nanoparticle averts anti-cancer drug resistance
Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith
