Sadzuka Yasuyuki, Nagamine Makiko, Toyooka Tatsushi, Ibuki Yuko, Sonobe Takashi
School of Pharmacy, Iwate Medical University, 2-1-1 Nishitokuta, Yahaba-cho, Shiwa-gun, Iwate 028-3694, Japan.
Int J Pharm. 2012 Aug 1;432(1-2):42-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2012.04.062. Epub 2012 Apr 28.
Many medicines used in cancer chemotherapy decrease the quality of life (QOL). It is believed that an increase in food intake during cancer chemotherapy may produce an improvement in QOL. Curcumin is widely used as a coloring and flavoring agent in food. The effects of curcumin in relation to the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin (DOX) were examined. While DOX alone did not decrease tumor weight, the combination of DOX and curcumin significantly reduced tumor weight to 56.5% (p<0.05) of that of the control group. The combined curcumin enhanced apoptosis by DOX and decreased cell viability. The curcumin-DOX combination also suppressed activation of caspase-3, -8, and -9 compared to DOX alone. It is presumed that combining curcumin increased DOX-induced antitumor activity by suppressing the main caspase pathway and activating the main caspase independent pathway. The combination of curcumin and DOX suppressed the reduction of glutathione peroxidase activity and increased lipid peroxide levels in the heart. Therefore, it is expected that curcumin may reduce the adverse reactions associated with DOX. Our results suggest that curcumin can be used as a modulator to enhance the therapeutic index of cancer patients and improve their QOL.
许多用于癌症化疗的药物会降低生活质量（QOL）。人们认为，在癌症化疗期间增加食物摄入量可能会改善生活质量。姜黄素在食品中广泛用作着色剂和调味剂。研究了姜黄素与化疗药物阿霉素（DOX）相关的作用。虽然单独使用DOX不会降低肿瘤重量，但DOX与姜黄素的组合可将肿瘤重量显著降低至对照组的56.5%（p<0.05）。联合使用的姜黄素增强了DOX诱导的细胞凋亡并降低了细胞活力。与单独使用DOX相比，姜黄素-DOX组合还抑制了caspase-3、-8和-9的激活。据推测，联合使用姜黄素通过抑制主要的caspase途径并激活主要的非caspase依赖途径来增强DOX诱导的抗肿瘤活性。姜黄素和DOX的组合抑制了心脏中谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶活性的降低并增加了脂质过氧化物水平。因此，预计姜黄素可能会减少与DOX相关的不良反应。我们的结果表明，姜黄素可作为一种调节剂来提高癌症患者的治疗指数并改善他们的生活质量。
