Component in turmeric may help improve cancer therapy outcome, find IIT-Madras researchers

There are many attempts to develop therapeutic agents that trigger apoptotic death (or programmed self-destruction) of cancer cells. One such agent that has reportedly been found promising is a protein called TNF-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand or TRAIL. Its ability to selectively kill cancer cells by apoptosis has resulted in a number of preclinical studies being carried out all over the world.

In cancer treatment, it is important to induce death of the cancer cells preferably without extensive damage to healthy cells. Programmed cell death is generally preferred over the more aggressive and premature process called ‘necrosis’ (unprogrammed cell death) because it releases fewer cellular components that trigger inflammation than the latter.

Elaborating on this research and its impact, Prof Rama Shanker Verma from the Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, Department of Biotechnology, IIT-Madras, said, “Despite strong anti-tumour activity of TRAIL in pre-clinical studies, clinical trials results have so far been unsatisfactory because cancer cells seem to acquire resistance against TRAIL upon long-term exposure. Thus, the next round of research has been to find chemicals that can reverse resistance and increase sensitivity of cancer cells to TRAIL.”

According to him, several studies have focused on natural compounds that could significantly enhance TRAIL-mediated apoptosis at non-toxic concentrations. The IIT-M team chose curcumin, the yellow part of the common turmeric that is used in daily cooking, as a sensitiser of TRAIL-resistant cancer cells to apoptosis.

Curcumin is already known to be a potent anti-cancer agent because of its ability to inhibit carcinogenesis and induce apoptosis in various cancer cells. Its function as a sensitiser to TRAIL has been shown in cases of prostate cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer and malignant glioma.

The research team showed that treating leukaemia (blood/bone-marrow cancer) cells with curcumin sensitises the cells to TRAIL and results in more efficient cell death. They performed studies using isolated leukaemia cells from cancer patients and found that non-toxic concentrations of curcumin can significantly increase the efficiency of TRAIL-induced cell death.