Curcumin as an Anticancer Agent in Malignant Mesothelioma: A Review

Our plain-English summary of Curcumin as an Anticancer Agent in Malignant Mesothelioma: A Review, by A. Baldi, A. De Luca, P. Maiorano, et al (International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2020).

The study

• Authors: A. Baldi, A. De Luca, P. Maiorano, C. D'Angelo, A. Giordano
• Journal: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Published: 2020;21(5)
• Type of article: Review
• Cited by: 30 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Malignant mesothelioma is an infrequent tumor that initiates from the mesothelial cells lining of body cavities. The great majority of mesotheliomas originate in the pleural cavity, while the remaining cases initiate in the peritoneal cavity, in the pericardial cavity or on the tunica vaginalis. Usually, mesotheliomas grow in a diffuse pattern and tend to enclose and compress the organs in the various body cavities. Mesothelioma incidence is increasing worldwide and still today, the prognosis is very poor, with a reported median survival of approximately one year from presentation. Thus, the development of alternative and more effective therapies is currently an urgent requirement. The aim of this review article was to describe recent findings about the anti-cancer activity of curcumin and some of its derivatives on mesotheliomas. The potential clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

In plain English

This article was a review, not a new study. The authors described published laboratory research on curcumin, the main active substance in turmeric, and some curcumin formulations as possible treatments for malignant mesothelioma. All of the mesothelioma studies they described used cancer cell lines or mice and rats. No results in human mesothelioma patients were reported. According to the reviewed studies, curcumin reduced the growth or survival of mesothelioma cells, in some studies in a dose- and time-dependent way. The processes involved included apoptosis, autophagy and pyroptosis, which are forms of cell death or cell self-digestion. One study reported that curcumin pre-treatment made mesothelioma cells more sensitive to the drug cisplatin. In animal models, curcumin increased the survival of mice and decreased tumor mass in rats with sarcomatoid mesothelioma. A product combining curcumin with piperine, a black pepper compound, delayed tumor growth in mice. The authors concluded that the data were promising. They also said the small number of studies and differences in experimental settings did not allow definitive conclusions, and that more work was needed.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: narrative review of laboratory (cell-line and animal) studies
• Who was studied: published laboratory studies using human and mouse mesothelioma cell lines and mouse and rat models of mesothelioma; no studies in human mesothelioma patients were described
• Exposure: curcumin and curcumin formulations, including curcumin-loaded nanoparticles and a commercial curcumin-plus-piperine extract (curcumin-C3complex/Bioperine); asbestos exposure was not studied
• Main results:
  • Wang et al. (human and murine mesothelioma cell lines): growth inhibition was dose- and time-dependent, and curcumin pre-treatment made mesothelioma cells more sensitive to cisplatin
  • Yamauchi et al. (human cell line ACC-MESO-1): reduced cell viability was attributed to autophagy rather than apoptosis
  • Miller et al. (mouse and human mesothelioma cell lines): curcumin induced pyroptosis
  • Serri et al. (MSTO-211H cell line): curcumin-loaded nanoparticles caused a persistent cell-cycle block for up to 72 hours
  • Masuelli et al. (mouse model): intraperitoneal curcumin increased the survival of the mice
  • Pouliquen et al. (rat model of sarcomatoid mesothelioma): intracavitary curcumin decreased tumor mass
  • Di Meo et al. (mouse xenograft model): the curcumin-C3complex/Bioperine product delayed tumor growth; the review notes no data yet on this formulation in human mesothelioma
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that the data to date were promising, but that the small number of studies and differences in experimental settings did not allow definitive conclusions. They said more work was needed on curcumin's effects, on the best formulation and on the route of administration.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The number of studies was small and their experimental settings differed significantly
  • There is no gold standard for how curcumin is used in vitro and in vivo
  • Curcumin has poor bioavailability, and most cited in vivo studies and clinical trials used non-standardized curcuminoid mixtures

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Mesothelioma, Mesothelial Cells, Pleural Cavity, Peritoneal Cavity, Pericardial, Tunica Vaginalis, Prognosis, Median Overall Survival.

Related studies

• EF24 and RAD001 potentiates the anticancer effect of platinum-based agents in human malignant pleural mesothelioma (MSTO-211H) cells and protects nonmalignant mesothelial (MET-5A) cells — H.I. Onen, A. Yilmaz, et al. (2015)
• Curcumin C3 complex®/Bioperine® has antineoplastic activity in mesothelioma: an in vitro and in vivo analysis — F. Di Meo, S. Filosa, et al. (2019)
• Curcumin induces apoptosis and inhibits angiogenesis in murine malignant mesothelioma — C. Zhang, Y. Hao, et al. (2018)
• Curcumin suppresses growth of mesothelioma cells in vitro and in vivo, in part, by stimulating apoptosis — Y. Wang, A.K. Rishi, et al. (2011)
• Exploring inhibitory potential of Curcumin against various cancer targets by in silico virtual screening — A.B. Mahajanakatti, G. Murthy, et al. (2014)
• Curcumin blocks autophagy and activates apoptosis of malignant mesothelioma cell lines and increases the survival of mice intraperitoneally transplanted with a malignant mesothelioma cell line — L. Masuelli, M. Benvenuto, et al. (2017)

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