curcumin and Abdominal-Neoplasms

Radiation-induced gastrointestinal injury or radiation enteropathy is an imminent risk during radiation therapy of abdominal or pelvic tumors. Despite remarkable technological advancements in image-guided radiation delivery techniques, the risk of intestinal injury after radiotherapy for abdominal or pelvic cancers has not been completely eliminated. The irradiated intestine undergoes varying degrees of adverse structural and functional changes, which can result in transient or long-term complications. The risk of development of enteropathy depends on dose, fractionation, and quality of radiation. Moreover, the patients' medical condition, age, inter-individual sensitivity to radiation and size of the treatment area are also risk factors of radiation enteropathy. Therefore, strategies are needed to prevent radiotherapy-induced undesirable alteration in the gastrointestinal tract. Many natural plant products, by virtue of their plethora of biological activities, alleviate the adverse effects of radiation-induced injury. The current review discusses potential roles and possible mechanisms of natural plant products in suppressing radiation enteropathy. Natural plant products have the potential to suppress intestinal radiation toxicity.

Topics: Abdominal Neoplasms; Ascorbic Acid; Biological Products; Curcumin; Garlic; Humans; Intestinal Diseases; Pelvic Neoplasms; Plant Extracts; Radiation Injuries; Vitamin E

One of the approaches being explored to increase antitumor activity of chemotherapeutics is to inject drug-loaded microspheres locally to specific anatomic sites, providing for a slow, long term release of a chemotherapeutic while minimizing systemic exposure. However, the used clinically drug carriers available at present have limitations, such as their low stability, renal clearance and residual surfactant. Here, we report docetaxel (DOC) and curcumin (CUR) loaded nanofibrous microspheres (DOC + CUR/nanofibrous microspheres), self-assembled from biodegradable PLA-PEO-PPO-PEO-PLA polymers as an injectable drug carrier without adding surfactant during the emulsification process. The obtained nanofibrous microspheres are composed entirely of nanofibers and have an open hole on the shell without the assistance of a template. It was shown that these DOC + CUR/nanofibrous microspheres could release curcumin and docetaxel slowly in vitro. The slow, sustained release of curcumin and docetaxel in vivo may help maintain local concentrations of active drug. The mechanism by which DOC + CUR/nanofibrous microspheres inhibit colorectal peritoneal carcinomatosis might involve increased induction of apoptosis in tumor cells and inhibition of tumor angiogenesis. In vitro and in vivo evaluations demonstrated efficacious synergistic antitumor effects against CT26 of curcumin and docetaxel combined nanofibrous microspheres. In conclusion, the dual drug loaded nanofibrous microspheres were considered potentially useful for treating abdominal metastases of colorectal cancer.

Topics: Abdominal Neoplasms; Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Apoptosis; Cell Line, Tumor; Colonic Neoplasms; Curcumin; Docetaxel; Drug Carriers; Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; Flow Cytometry; Hemolysis; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Microspheres; Molecular Weight; Nanofibers; Nanoparticles; Neoplasm Metastasis; Poloxamer; Polymers; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; Taxoids; Thermogravimetry; X-Ray Diffraction