Herbal Turmeric and Supplemental Copper Suppress the Oral Cancer Progression

By Kyle J. Norton

Oral cancer is a medical condition caused by any malignant cell growth in the tissue located in the oral cavity, including the tissue of the lips or the tongue, cheek lining, floor of the mouth, gums (gingiva) and the roof of the mouth (palate).

Oral cancer can be classified depending on the types of cells that cause the onset including

* Squamous cell carcinoma

Squamous cell carcinoma is one of the most common types of oral cancer, accounting for over 90% of all cases and arise from the squamous cell layer in the lining of the oral cavity and oropharynx.

* Verrucous carcinoma
The low grade and rarely spread verrucous carcinoma is uncommon cancer, accounting only to an approximate 5% of all cases, but it can spread deeply into the surrounding tissue.

* Minor salivary gland cancers
The cancer is originated from the salivary gland accounting for less than 1% of all cases.

The grades of oral cancer are depending on the tendency of spreading. Low-grade cancers usually grow more slowly and are less likely to spread while high-grade cancer indicates otherwise.

Most prevalent factors associated with a higher risk of oral cancer are tobacco use including cigarettes, cigars, pipes, chewing tobacco, and snuff, among others. 

Some researchers suggested that heavy alcohol use also in one of the most common risks of oral cancer. 

Dr. Binh Y. Goldstein the lead scientist wrote, "The evidence for the human carcinogenic effects of alcohol drinking on the risk of cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx has been considered sufficient in the IARC Monograph 44 on alcohol and cancer in 1988".

And, "Generally, the dominant type of alcohol consumption in each population is associated with the greatest increases in risk. A large number of studies on joint exposure of alcohol and tobacco consumption demonstrate a more than multiplicative synergistic effect".

Turmeric is a perennial plant in the genus Curcuma, belonging to the family Zingiberaceae, native to tropical South Asia.

The herb has been used in traditional medicine as anti-oxidant, hypoglycemic, colorant, antiseptic, wound healing agent, and for the treatment of flatulence, bloating, and appetite loss, ulcers, eczema, inflammations, etc.

On finding a potential ingredient for the treatment of cancer, researchers examined the effect of curcumin found abundantly in turmeric on intracellular copper levels that affect the sensitivity of oral cancer cells.

According to the differentiation of intracellular copper levels and response to curcumin treatment in a panel of OSCC cell lines derived from oral cancer patients, the concentrations that inhibited 50% OSCC cell viability (IC50) of curcumin was reduced up to 5 times in the presence of 250 µM copper.

Furthermore, increased copper level in curcumin-treated OSCC cells exerted a significant effect in increased levels of intracellular ROS and Nrf2 which regulates oxidative stress responses in the cancer cells.

Moreover, supplemental copper also inhibited migration of curcumin-treated cells by suppressing epithelial-mesenchymal transition in the promotion of cancer cells metastasis.

Interestingly, early apoptosis in combined treatment is not found in treatment with curcumin or copper alone.

In other words, copper and curcumin work synergistically to induce cancer cell death, compared to no effect in either alone treatment.

Based on the findings, researchers wrote, "Supplement of copper significantly enhanced the inhibitory effect of curcumin treatment on migration and viability of oral cancer cells".

Taken altogether, curcumin found abundantly turmeric may be combined with the copper supplement for the prevention and treatment of oral cancer pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of turmeric in the form of supplement should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) The Usage of Curcumin as Chemopreventive Agent for Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: An Experimental Study on Sprague-Dawley Rat by Maulina T1, Widayanti R1, Hardianto A1, Sjamsudin E1, Pontjo B2, Yusuf HY. (PubMed)
(2) Copper supplementation amplifies the anti-tumor effect of curcumin in oral cancer cells by Lee HM1, Patel V1, Shyur LF2, Lee WL. (PubMed)
(3) Alcohol Consumption and Cancer of the Oral Cavity and Pharynx from 1988 to 2009: An Update by Binh Y. Goldstein,1 Shen-Chih Chang,1 Mia Hashibe,2 Carlo La Vecchia,3,4 andZuo-Feng Zhang. (PMC)