2009 Press Releases
Curry Compounds Kill Cancer Cells
28.10.2009
Molecules found in a curry spice have been shown to kill oesophageal cancer cells in the laboratory, reveals research published in the British Journal of Cancer today (Wednesday, October 28th 2009).
28.10.2009
Molecules found in a curry spice have been shown to kill oesophageal cancer cells in the laboratory, reveals research published in the British Journal of Cancer today (Wednesday, October 28th 2009).
Scientists at the Cork Cancer Research Centre, UCC, treated oesophageal cancer cells with curcumin – a chemical found in the curry spice tumeric. They found that curcumin started to kill cancer cells within 24 hours. The cells also began to digest themselves. The results additionally showed that curcumin kills cells by triggering lethal cell death signals.
“These exciting results suggest that scientists could develop curcumin as a potential anti-cancer drug to treat oesophageal cancer,” says Dr Sharon McKenna, lead study author at the Cork Cancer Research Centre, UCC.
“Scientists have known for a long time that natural compounds have the potential to treat faulty cells that have become cancerous and we suspected that curcumin might have therapeutic value. Dr Geraldine O’Sullivan-Coyne, a medical researcher in our lab had been looking for new ways of killing resistant oesophageal cancer cells. She tested curcurmin on resistant cells and found that they started to die using an unexpected system of cell messages.”
Normally, faulty cells die by committing programmed suicide – or apoptosis – which occurs when proteins called caspases are ‘switched on’ in cells. But these cells showed no evidence of suicide and the addition of a molecule that inhibits caspases and stops this ‘switch being flicked’, made no difference to the number of cells which died. This suggested that curcumin attacked the cancer cells using an alternative cell signalling system.
Each year around 350 people are diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in Ireland (7,800 in the UK). Less than 20 per cent of people survive oesophageal cancer beyond five years. It is the seventh most common cause of cancer death and accounts for around four per cent of all Irish cancer deaths.
According to Professor Gerald O’Sullivan, Director of the Cork Cancer Research Centre at UCC, the research opens up the possibility that natural chemicals found in tumeric could be developed into new treatments for oesophageal cancer.
“The incidence of oesophageal cancer has gone up by more than a half since the 70s, particularly in the Western world and this is thought to be linked to rising rates of obesity, alcohol intake and reflux disease, so finding ways to both treat and prevent this disease is extremely important. The development of natural compounds as chemo-preventative agents is also a very promising area of research.”
For further information about the Cork Cancer Research Centre visit http://www.ccrc.ie
Picture shows: Dr Sharon McKenna and Dr Geraldine O’Sullivan-Coyne
RMcD
“These exciting results suggest that scientists could develop curcumin as a potential anti-cancer drug to treat oesophageal cancer,” says Dr Sharon McKenna, lead study author at the Cork Cancer Research Centre, UCC.
“Scientists have known for a long time that natural compounds have the potential to treat faulty cells that have become cancerous and we suspected that curcumin might have therapeutic value. Dr Geraldine O’Sullivan-Coyne, a medical researcher in our lab had been looking for new ways of killing resistant oesophageal cancer cells. She tested curcurmin on resistant cells and found that they started to die using an unexpected system of cell messages.”
Normally, faulty cells die by committing programmed suicide – or apoptosis – which occurs when proteins called caspases are ‘switched on’ in cells. But these cells showed no evidence of suicide and the addition of a molecule that inhibits caspases and stops this ‘switch being flicked’, made no difference to the number of cells which died. This suggested that curcumin attacked the cancer cells using an alternative cell signalling system.
Each year around 350 people are diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in Ireland (7,800 in the UK). Less than 20 per cent of people survive oesophageal cancer beyond five years. It is the seventh most common cause of cancer death and accounts for around four per cent of all Irish cancer deaths.
According to Professor Gerald O’Sullivan, Director of the Cork Cancer Research Centre at UCC, the research opens up the possibility that natural chemicals found in tumeric could be developed into new treatments for oesophageal cancer.
“The incidence of oesophageal cancer has gone up by more than a half since the 70s, particularly in the Western world and this is thought to be linked to rising rates of obesity, alcohol intake and reflux disease, so finding ways to both treat and prevent this disease is extremely important. The development of natural compounds as chemo-preventative agents is also a very promising area of research.”
For further information about the Cork Cancer Research Centre visit http://www.ccrc.ie
Picture shows: Dr Sharon McKenna and Dr Geraldine O’Sullivan-Coyne
RMcD