Phase II

Summary:

Studies have shown that curcumin, the active ingredient of turmeric, has preventive and anti-tumor effects together antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Curcumin is a lipid-soluble compound and can potentially prevent cancer development with no discernible toxicity. It is cost-effective and has been used for centuries without known side-effects. However, absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretory studies of curcumin in recent years focus on its low bioavailability in systemic circulation. Subsequently, many methods were tested to overcome this defect like the use of nanocurcumin. A unique feature of nanocurcumin is the ease with which the structure of their monomers can be varied in order to provide suitable, inert drug porters for target cells. Our previous results shed new light on the potential biocompatibility, biodegradability and anticancer effects of nanocurcumin in the preclinical studies. Furthermore, our data in clinical phase I study showed that nanocurcumin can be tolerated even in high doses without any toxicity. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed nanocurcumin role as an adjunctive therapy with standard therapy on treatment response and quality of life in patients with breast and gastrointestinal cancer resistant to treatment. 40 patients were randomly selected into control and case groups; with breast cancer and colon cancer, referred to Institute cancer of Iran, from September 2014 to September 2015. The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT) and Questionnaire for Cancer Rehabilitation Evaluation System (CARES), and CT scan are used for estimation of quality of life and response to treatment.