姜黄素能抑制前列腺癌转移

我们经常使用姜黄粉(Powdered turmeric)来治疗骨关节炎和其它疾病，其活性成分姜黄素可以有效抑制炎症反应。近日，来自路德维希马克西米利安大学的研究者揭示了姜黄素可以有效抑制癌症转移灶的形成，相关研究成果刊登于国际杂志Carcinogenesis上。

前列腺癌是西方国家普遍流行的一种恶性肿瘤，其通常在患者机体中发生转移后才会被诊断出来。如今研究者开始研究姜黄素抑制癌症转移灶的生成。首先研究者检测了前列腺癌细胞中异常调节所涉及的分子过程。乳腺癌和前列腺癌通常与潜在或慢性的炎症反应相关，很多病例中，肿瘤细胞可以产生促炎性的免疫调制剂，包括CXCL1和CXCL2。

文章中，研究者表示，姜黄素可以特异性地降低这两种炎性蛋白的表达，在小鼠模型中，这种效应可以降低小鼠肿瘤的转移，由于姜黄素的活性导致肿瘤细胞不能产生细胞因子进而促进肿瘤发生，因此导致小鼠肺部肿瘤的形成速度明显降低。

虽然姜黄素可以有效抑制肿瘤的转移，但这并不能代表其可以取代常规的化疗方法，研究者认为姜黄素的日服用量在8g是比较安全的，而且其对于抗炎效果也是比较好的。因此姜黄素在未来或成为特定的癌症疗法的添加物，以有效抑制肿瘤转移灶的形成。
Curcumin Inhibits Prostate Cancer Metastasis in vivo by Targeting the Inflammatory Cytokines CXCL1 and -2

Peter H. Killian1, Emanuel Kronski1, Katharina Michalik1, Ottavia Barbieri2,3, Simonetta Astigiano2, Christian P. Sommerhoff1, Ulrich Pfeffer4, Andreas G. Nerlich5 and Beatrice E. Bachmeier1,4,*

In America and Western Europe prostate cancer is the second leading cause of death in men. Emerging evidence suggests that chronic inflammation is a major risk factor for the development and metastatic progression of prostate cancer. We previously reported that the chemopreventive polyphenol Curcumin inhibits the expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines CXCL1 and -2 leading to diminished formation of breast cancer metastases. Here we analyse the effects of Curcumin on prostate carcinoma growth, apoptosis and metastasis. We show that Curcumin inhibits translocation of NFκB to the nucleus through the inhibition of the IκB-kinase, IKKβ, leading to stabilization of the inhibitor of NFκB, IκBα, in PC3 prostate carcinoma cells. Inhibition of NFκB activity reduces expression of CXCL1 and -2 and abolishes the autocrine/paracrine loop that links the two chemokines to NFκB. The combination of Curcumin with the synthetic IKKβ inhibitor, SC-541, shows no additive or synergistic effects indicating that the two compounds share the target. Treatment of the cells with Curcumin as wells as siRNA based knock-down of CXCL1 and -2 induce apoptosis, inhibit proliferation, and down-regulate several important metastasis-promoting factors like COX2, SPARC, and EFEMP. In an orthotopic mouse model of haematogenous metastasis, treatment with Curcumin inhibits statistically significantly formation of lung metastases. In conclusion, chronic inflammation can induce a metastasis prone phenotype in prostate cancer cells by maintaining a positive pro-inflammatory and pro-metastatic feed-back loop between NFκB and CXCL1/-2. Curcumin disrupts this feed-back loop by the inhibition of NFκB signalling leading to reduced metastasis formation in vivo.