A new Saint Louis University study has revealed that a chemical that gives curry its zing holds promise in preventing or treating liver damage from an advanced form of a condition known as fatty liver disease.
The chemical, curcurmin, is contained in turmeric, a plant used by the Chinese to make traditional medicines for thousands of years.
The recent study has highlighted its potential in countering an increasingly common kind of fatty liver disease called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).
“My laboratory studies the molecular mechanism of liver fibrosis and is searching for natural ways to prevent and treat this liver damage,” said Anping Chen of Saint Louis University.
Turmeric
“While research in an animal model and human clinical trials are needed, our study suggests that curcumin may be an effective therapy to treat and prevent liver fibrosis, which is associated with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH),” said Chen.
High levels of blood leptin, glucose and insulin are commonly found in human patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes, which might contribute to NASH-associated liver fibrosis.
Chen”s work has tested the effect of curcumin on the role of high levels of leptin in causing liver fibrosis in vitro, or in a controlled lab setting.
“Leptin plays a critical role in the development of liver fibrosis,” he said.
High levels of leptin activate hepatic stellate cells, which are the cells that cause overproduction of the collagen protein, a major feature of liver fibrosis.
The researchers found that among other activities, curcumin eliminated the effects of leptin on activating hepatic stellate cells, which short-circuited the development of liver damage.
Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae.
It is native to tropical South Asia and needs temperatures between 20°C and 30°C, and a considerable amount of annual rainfall to thrive. Plants are gathered annually for their rhizomes, and reseeded from some of those rhizomes in the following season.
The rhizomes are boiled for several hours and then dried in hot ovens, after which they are ground into a deep orange-yellow powder commonly used as a spice in curries and other South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine, for dyeing, and to impart color to mustard condiments. Its active ingredient is curcumin and it has a distinctly earthy, slightly bitter, slightly hot peppery flavor and a mustardy smell.
In medieval Europe, turmeric became known as Indian saffron, since it was widely used as an alternative to the far more expensive saffron spice.
Erode, a city in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is the world’s largest producer and most important trading center of turmeric in Asia. For these reasons, Erode in history is also known as “Yellow City”[citation needed] or “Turmeric City”. Sangli, a town in the southern part of the Indian western state of Maharashtra, is the second largest and most important trading center for turmeric in Asia.
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Extracts from the yellow curry spice turmeric can kill off cancer cells, according to BBC News. New research from the Cork Cancer Research Centre shows that the extract can destroy oesophagus cancer cells in a lab.
Oesophageal cancer cells are often resistant to cell death (the aim of chemotherapy), so in this laboratory study the researchers investigated the effects of curcumin (the active extract from turmeric) on a range of different types of cancer cells from the gullet. Introducing the chemical induced a type of cell death, called mitotic catastrophe.
While it is too soon to call this a cure for cancer, the findings pave the way for further investigations into the potential of plant-derived substances that are able to induce cell death in cancer cells. This could be particularly important for treating cancers that have so far proved resistant to chemotherapy.
Where did the story come from?
The study was carried out by Dr Geraldine O’Sullivan-Coyne and colleagues from the Cork Cancer Research Centre at University College Cork, Mercy University Hospital and the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology in Warsaw, Poland. The study was funded by the Higher Education Authority of Ireland and the Cork Cancer Research Centre, and was published in the peer-reviewed British Journal of Cancer.
What kind of scientific study was this?
This was a laboratory study investigating how oesophageal cancer cells respond when coming into contact with curcumin, a chemical found in the Indian spice turmeric.
Curcumin is one of a number of plant-derived chemicals, or phytochemicals, that have been studied for their anti-cancer properties. Previous research has shown that curcumin induces ‘cell death’ in malignant cells. Many tumour cells are resistant to cell death, and any substance that can change this without affecting healthy cells has potential as an anti-cancer agent.
Curcumin disrupts a number of cycles in cancer cell and causes a particular type of cell death known as mitotic catastrophe. This occurs when a cell divides into two (mitosis) and errors occur in the way the chromosomes separate. In most cases, when these errors occur various processes will interact to cause the cell to be destroyed.
Different concentrations of curcumin were mixed with a culture medium in which cancer cells were growing. In all of their experiments, the researchers also included control cultures without curcumin present in the medium, to use for comparison.
After 24 hours of treatment, the researchers investigated the viability of the cancer cells, if they were multiplying (their mitotic index) and the mechanisms of cell death.
What were the results of the study?
The study found that cancer cells substantially lost their viability after being incubated with curcumin for 24 hours. This action was clearly dose-dependent, meaning higher doses had a greater effect on the viability of the cells. Some cell lines were able to recover when allowed a 48-hour recovery period after curcumin treatment, but two particular cell lines could not recover from treatment at concentrations “greater than 15µM” (concentration by curcumin’s molecular weight per litre).
Further investigations of the nature cells’ reduced viability showed that they were largely undergoing mitotic catastrophe that led to cell death. This was accompanied by other instances of cell death through apoptosis (programmed cell death) or autophagy (degradation of cell by internal digestive enzymes), depending on the specific line of cancer cells tested.
What interpretations did the researchers draw from these results?
The researchers conclude that curcumin shows features of cytotoxicity (toxic to cells) that are consistent with the induction of mitotic catastrophe in certain lines of cancer cells. They say that because of its activity, it is likely that curcumin may be a realistic option for future consideration as a molecular method to prevent and treat cancer.
What does the NHS Knowledge Service make of this study?
This laboratory study exposed various different lines of oesophageal cancer to the chemical curcumin, which is an extract from the spice turmeric commonly used in Indian cooking.
* This was a well-conducted study, and it has furthered the understanding of the complex processes associated with cell death that has resulted from exposure to cytotoxic substances.
* Given the preliminary nature of this study, it is premature to herald the spice as a potential cure for cancer.
* In advance of research in humans, further study is needed to uncover the precise mechanisms behind this activity.
* The process for developing drugs for humans is a long and involved one, and chemicals that show promise in the laboratory (in vitro) do not always have the same effect when testing moves on to animals and eventually humans. There is some way to go before we fully understand the potential of this compound in the treatment of oesophageal cancer for humans.
“Curry favour for your liver,” is the headline in the Daily Mirror. The newspaper said that mice fed curcumin (the chemical in turmeric that gives curry a yellow colour) had less liver damage over time than those on a normal diet.
The researchers in this animal study investigated how an extract of the spice protected mice that had been bred to have inflammation in their bile ducts from liver damage.
The results suggest that liver damage, jaundice and scarring were all reduced by the curcumin and that the underlying cellular pathways affected might, in time, become promising targets for new drug development. However, there is no suggestion from this study that eating turmeric will have the same effect or be a useful treatment for humans.
Where did the story come from?
This research was carried out by Dr Anna Baghdasaryan and colleagues from the Laboratory of Experimental and Molecular Hepatology at the Medical University Graz in Austria along with colleagues from Texas. The study was supported by the Austrian Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the PhD Program of the Medical University of Graz. The study was published in the peer-reviewed medical journal Gut.
What kind of research was this?
This study was aimed at testing a mouse model of a group of diseases in humans known as chronic cholangiopathies. These diseases are caused by inflammation and scarring of the bile ducts within the liver, leading to the flow of bile to the gut being blocked, resulting in:
* jaundice
* liver cirrhosis
* liver failure
* liver cancer
Primary biliary cirrhosis is one example of a chronic cholangiopathy.
Curcumin, the yellow pigment of the spice turmeric, has been shown to have an effect on liver inflammation following injury. These researchers wanted to see if there were any beneficial effects of the chemical extract on mice bred to have a cholangiopathy.
What did the research involve?
The mice that were used are especially bred to have a type of chronic cholangiopathy (known as multidrug-resistant protein 2 knockout mice [Mdr2-/-]). These mice are used as models of progressive cholangiopathy with biliary fibrosis because they develop scarring and blockages of the bile ducts over time. The researchers tested liver enzymes, as a sign of liver inflammation, and examined the livers of male Mdr2-/- mice and wild-type mice before and after they were fed curcumin.
The researchers then cultured cholangiocytes (bile duct cells) and portal myofibroblasts (MFBs) another type of cell found in bile ducts, in the lab. The cells were then exposed to a chemical (TNF-alpha) that causes inflammation. This inflammation can be treated with a drug called troglitazone, a PPAR gamma antagonist. The researchers tested the cellular growth with and without curcumin and with and without troglitazone.
What were the basic results?
The researchers say that there was less liver damage, bile duct blockage and fibrosis in the Mdr2-/- mice after they were fed curcumin. They also found that curcumin prevented the cells in the bile ducts from growing.
In the lab, troglitazone was found to partially block the beneficial action of curcumin. The researchers suggest that this may be part of the chemical pathway that could be targeted for the development of new drugs. They also found that curcumin can prevent the portal myofibroblasts cells from multiplying. These cells are thought to play a central role in the development of inflammation in bile ducts.
How did the researchers interpret the results?
The researchers say their results show that curcumin may have multiple targets in the liver. They say they have described several central cellular events in a mouse model of cholangiopathy. They say that targeting these pathways may be a promising approach to treating cholangiopathies.
Conclusion
This well-conducted animal and laboratory study has identified cellular targets for new drug development. The theories are at an early stage and it is too soon to say that any new treatments might be developed from the spice. However, researchers will welcome these findings as they give a clear direction for new study into treatments for these severe and hard-to-treat conditions.
A variation of curcumin may be one of the drugs tested further; however, it is also possible that other related chemicals may have more effect. At this stage, it is not possible to say if the spice turmeric will be useful for treating liver disease in humans.