The War on Cancer, & Stem-like Cancer Cells.

[pjoshea13]

New curcumin paper below [1].

It's been 46 years since Richard Nixon declared war on cancer.

Each October, an enormous amount of money is collected for breast cancer-related purposes. Not all goes to BCa research, but a lot does. (Too bad about the other 'hormonal' cancers - ovarian, cervical, endometrial - & of course, PCa.) & yet, still no BCa cure.

In recent years, it has become common to pin the blame on cancer cells with stem-like properties, but when I was diagnosed, many PCa experts disputed that they even existed - no-one had seen a PCa progenitor cell & no-one knew what to look for.

The big success stories of recent years - Zytiga & Xtandi - follow in the Huggins tradition by targeting the androgen receptor [AR], either directly (as with Casodex, & now Xtandi) or by starving AR of hormones (as with castration, DES, Lupron, & now Zytiga). Alas, PCa progenitor cells lack AR.

They also do not produce PSA. PCa studies tend to measure success based on the percentage of participants who achieve >50% PSA reduction.

Is the new curcumin study a good one? At this stage, I'll use anything that might target PCa stem-like cells. And there are plenty of other reasons to use curcumin.

It's a Chinese-American cell study. "Curcumin can suppress HuPCaSC {human prostate cancer stem cell} proliferation and invasion in vitro ..."

I use Longvida [CurcuBrain] because of it's bioavailability [2] [3].

-Patrick

[1] ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/291...

Genet Test Mol Biomarkers. 2017 Nov 27. doi: 10.1089/gtmb.2017.0179. [Epub ahead of print]

Curcumin Suppresses In Vitro Proliferation and Invasion of Human Prostate Cancer Stem Cells by Modulating DLK1-DIO3 Imprinted Gene Cluster MicroRNAs.

Zhang H1, Zheng J1, Shen H2, Huang Y3, Liu T1,4, Xi H3, Chen C1.

Author information

1

1 Shanghai Geriatric Institute of Chinese Medicine, Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine , Shanghai, China .

2

2 Department of Urology, Beijing Friendship Hospital , Capital Medical University, Beijing, China .

3

3 Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Medical School, Tongji University , Shanghai, China .

4

4 Department of Pathology, Yale University School of Medicine , New Haven, Connecticut.

Abstract

AIMS:

Curcumin can suppress human prostate cancer (HuPCa) cell proliferation and invasion. However, it is not known whether curcumin can inhibit HuPCa stem cell (HuPCaSC) proliferation and invasion.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

We used methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium and Transwell assays to examine the proliferation and invasion of the HuPCaSC lines DU145 and 22Rv1 following curcumin or dimethyl sulfoxide (control) treatment. The microRNA (miRNA) expression levels in the DLK1-DIO3 imprinted genomic region in the cells and in tumor tissues from patients with PCa were examined using microarray and quantitative PCR.

RESULTS:

The median inhibitory concentration of curcumin significantly inhibited HuPCaSC proliferation and invasion in vitro. The miR-770-5p and miR-1247 expression levels in the DLK1-DIO3 imprinted gene cluster were significantly different between the curcumin-treated and control HuPCaSCs. Overexpression of these positive miRNAs significantly increased the inhibition rates of miR-770-5p- and miR-1247-transfected HuPCaSCs compared to the control miR-Mut-transfected HuPCaSCs. Last, low-tumor grade PCa tissues had higher miR-770-5p and miR-1247 expression levels than high-grade tumor tissues.

CONCLUSIONS:

Curcumin can suppress HuPCaSC proliferation and invasion in vitro by modulating specific miRNAs in the DLK1-DIO3 imprinted gene cluster.

KEYWORDS:

DLK1-DIO3 imprinted gene cluster microRNAs; curcumin; human prostate cancer stem cells (HuPCaSCs); proliferation and invasion

PMID: 29172709 DOI: 10.1089/gtmb.2017.0179

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[2] youtube.com/watch?v=Bw025Ih...(Not working as expected?)

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[3] swansonvitamins.com/now-foo...

[gusgold]

Patrick,

Good chance big pharma does not want to find a cure for PCa. Start with lupron...you become castrate resistant...move on to 2nd line hormonal therapy xtandi/zytiga at $10,000 a bottle...usually within 6 months - 24 months cancer mutates to a new form...guess what...3rd line hormonal therapy in pipeline ready for prime time...$10,000 a bottle

[pjoshea13 in reply to gusgold]

Gus,

Cynic that I am, I nonetheless feel that BigPharma would like to solve the drug resistance problem.

The ideal business model is a drug that works indefinitely, but can be "improved" before the patent runs out.

-Patrick

[AlanMeyer in reply to gusgold]

I have a lot of criticisms of big pharma but I don't believe that, for most of them, they have anything to gain from suppressing cancer cures. The makers of Lupron, Zytiga, Xtandi, and a few other drugs have something to gain by not introducing a cure, but the great majority of companies don't make those drugs and have nothing to lose by curing cancer. They'd love to cure cancer and get all the business for themselves. Ugly, wasteful, and expensive as it is, that's one area in which capitalist competition in drugs does seem to work - or so it seems to me.

Alan

[softwaremom00 in reply to AlanMeyer]

I agree, I think big pharma would cure cancer if it could. We have so many diseases that they will just move on to the next one.

[wrando in reply to gusgold]

3rd line hormonal therapy in pipeline ready for prime time? do you know of any?

[AlanMeyer in reply to wrando]

I believe there are some. Darolutamide is one. It passed Phase I and Phase II trials and is in Phase III now. I'm pretty sure there are some others too.

In addition, I know that many labs are working on drugs that will fight resistance in a way that makes existing drugs that have failed start working again. Here's one area where the makers of blockbuster drugs like Zytiga and Xtandi have much to gain from financing this research. If a guy on Zytiga lives 3 years with plain Zytiga, but gets 6 or 8 or 10 years from Zytiga plus the resistance blocker, it's a huge financial win for the makers of Zytiga.

To make this work, scientists in labs all over the world are working very intensively to try to better understand why and how cancer cells become androgen independent. It's a hard problem that requires deciphering all sorts of variant genes and proteins that appear in cancer cells and how the variants escape the requirement for testosterone. But there are a lot papers published in this area and progress is definitely being made.

The evolution of cancer is a real SOB, but the scientific community is applying extremely intelligent design to try to overcome it.

Alan

[wrando in reply to AlanMeyer]

I haven't heard of Darolutamide...have to check it out...thanks

[pietrad]

The addition of some 5 -10% ground pepper (Black or white) for it's Piperine, massively enhances the positive effects of the Circumin in ground Turmeric. I originally began using this for it's amazing anti-inflammatory properties to effectively alleviate severe arthritis in my lower back and knees. I've been taking a half teaspoon of this combination twice daily, (mixed to a stiff paste with Hemp or other cold-pressed oils,) and my PSA has been dropping steadily while my joints are so free of pain I'm back to playing two mornings of tennis every week. Not too bad for an 82 year old. Pietrad.

[pjoshea13 in reply to pietrad]

Hi Pietrad,

That's wonderful. Having arthritis, you know when a dose is bio-active.

Piperine isn't that expensive. Black pepper itself can be rough on the stomach. Or so they say.

Best, -Patrick

[softwaremom00 in reply to pietrad]

It is awesome for an 82 year old! Do you use fresh turmeric or the dry spice ? I have a hard time finding the fresh turmeric in stores around here.

[pietrad in reply to softwaremom00]

I'm able to access organically grown powdered Turmeric but have also used the commercially available powdered one OK.

[Daddysdaughter in reply to pietrad]

My father was told to not take it while on Xtandi

[chascri]

Have been using curcumin extract since recurrence in 2006

[softwaremom00]

Sounds great. Thanks for doing this!

[Kuanyin]

If it comes from China, which I bet it does, be careful! Having lived and visited the country for over 15 years, I have seen all the crazy things some of these people do to food and herbs. Also. with the exception of the Yunnan plateau, the soils in many regions of China are polluted. Yes, I know what Super Critical CO2 denotes, if in fact it is really being done! As far as documents indicating purity of the product...well, you take your chance. In the the Chinese study cited by Patrick, it does not answer the crucial question of HOW MUCH was used? In my opinion there is a more potent Longvida extract available from Nutrasal called "Optima Advanced Bioavailable Curcumin" with absorption increased by a phospholipid complex: there is an additional bonus of phosphatidylcholine which is good for the nervous system. I have been using this product for more years than I can recall. I mix a teaspoon of it with avocado oil in a blender, with other nutrients, three times a day, which provides me with 1665 mg of Longvida curcumin a day: the amount suggested by many studies is two grams, but the product used in these earlier studies was not as strong as Longvida. I buy two canisters, one for my wife who uses it for arthritis, and get a 15% discount. Batches of the product are fresh: a couple of times I had to wait several for a new batch.

Note: I am not totally against using products from China. If you are confident in your source and the product contains what it claims, one drop is pretty elegant!

[Kuanyin]

As far as I know, practically all of the turmeric used in supplements comes from either China or India. I don't believe it is grown in either Europe or the U.S. You are aware, I'm sure, that many of our pharmaceuticals now come from plants in China? There have been incidents of mold growing in the vats of some of these providers. Unless, the Chinese are very closely supervised by the Western owners, they will assume that the owners really don't care what they (the Chinese) do. As I write this post, I just realized something: I have really never asked Longvida where they get their turmeric! Now, I am almost afraid to! Will the results of tests, in vitro and in vivo, be available for this product?

[Kuanyin]

Excuse me, but we have trouble controlling the quality of the farm-raised fish in the U.S., let alone Thailand. I wouldn't eat shrimp from anyplace, full stop. Anyway, so what is the name of the provider of this mysterious source of Supercritical CO2 turmeric extract you have been touting? Is it not ready for prime time?