- Cancer Treatment 1 -- Indian Spice Inhibits Cancer Hormones
Curcumin, the main ingredient in the spice turmeric, has been used for centuries in Indian traditional medicine and curry, and has been shown to be an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant. Now a laboratory study suggests it could become a colon cancer preventive or treatment. The study looked at the effects of curcumin on cell activity and found it interferes with neurotensin, a gastrointestinal hormone suspected of setting off the cancer process in colon cells.
University of Texas researchers treated some human colorectal cancer cells with neurotensin, with and without curcumin. They confirmed that neurotensin started a chain reaction of chemicals that can increase the growth of cancer and also the migration of cancer cells and that curcumin blocked the process.
Curcumin appears to do this by blocking the biochemical signals sent by neurotensin that contribute to colon cancer cell growth and migration (the spread of cancer to other body sites). The cell studies need to be followed up by clinical studies in humans, the researchers say. Curcumin may have the potential to both treat and prevent colon cancer and other cancers. This study was reported in the journal, Clinical Cancer Research (Volume 12, page 5346).
- Cancer Treatment 2 -- Vectibix Slows Metastasized Colorectal Cancer
A new drug may slow disease progression when colorectal cancer has metastasized (spread to other body sites) after standard chemotherapy treatments. The medication, panitumumab (Vectibix), was approved in September 2006 by the FDA under an accelerated program for treatments for serious and life-threatening diseases.
Vectibix is a monoclonal antibody, one of the new biologic drugs that target specific molecules. By binding to a protein called epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) that appears on some cancer cells, it slows disease progression and, in some cases, shrinks cancer tumors by more than 50%.
The FDA gave Vectibix priority approval because of promising results in a randomized, controlled clinical trial of 463 patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who had undergone treatment with the drugs fluoropyrimidine, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan. Vectibix extended to 96 days the average time to disease progression or death, compared with 60 days for the control group receiving only standard care. (In 8% of Vectibix patients, cancer tumors shrank.) Overall survival was similar in both groups. Under the FDA approval agreement, the manufacturer agreed to conduct post-approval clinical trials to see whether Vectibix improves survival for those who have had fewer chemotherapy treatments.
For more Alerts and Special Reports, please visit the Colon Cancer Topic page. 
