December 2017 Vol. 5 No.12

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Original Research Article

Expanding the Therapeutic Utility of Curcumin “An Experimental Study on DMH-induced Colorectal Cancer”

Azza H. El-Medany^1*, Hanan H. Hagar^1,2, Omnia A. Nayel¹ and Jamila H. El-Medany³

¹Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine and Alexandria University, Egypt
²Department of Pharmacology, King Saudi University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
³Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine and King Khalid University Hospital, King Saudi University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

*Corresponding Author’s E-mail: dr_azzaelmedany@yahoo.com

Accepted December 13, 2017

Abstract

In search for drugs that can target cancer cell microenvironment in as much as being able to halt malignant cellular transformation, the natural dietary phytochemical curcumin was currently assessed in DMH-induced colorectal cancer rat model. The study enrolled 50 animals divided into a control group (n=10) and DMH-induced colorectal cancer control group (n=20) (20mg/kg.-body weight for 28 weeks) versus curcumin-treated group (n=20) (160 mg/kg suspension daily oral for further 8 weeks). Treatment by curcumin succeeded to significantly decrease the percent of ACF and tended to normalize back the histological changes retrieved in adenomatous and stromal cells induced by DMH. The drug also significantly elevated GSH and significantly reduced most of the accompanying biochemical elevations (namely MDA, TNF-α, TGF-β and COX2) observed in colonic carcinomatous tissue, induced by DMH, thus succeeding to revert that of MDA, COX2 and TGF-β back to near normal as justified by being non-significantly altered as compared to normal controls. The only exception was PAF that was insignificantly altered by the drug. When taken together, it could be concluded that curcumin possess the potentiality to halt some of the orchestrated cross-talk between cancerous transformation and its microenvironmental niche that contributes to cancer initiation, progression and metastasis in this experimental cancer colon model. Envisioning these merits to a drug with already known safety preferentiality, awaits final results of current ongoing clinical trials, before curcumin can be added to the new therapeutic armamentarium of anticancer therapy.

Keywords: Curcumin, Dimethyl Hydralazine (DMH), Aberrant Crypt Foci (ACF), Malondialdehyde (MDA), Reduced Glutathione (GSH), Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2), Tumour Necrosis Factor-Alpha (TNF-α), Transforming Growth Factor-Beta (TGF-β), Platelet Activating Factor (PAF)