Herbal Turmeric Inhibits Human Papillomavirus-Positive and Negative Squamous Carcinoma Cells

By Kyle J. Norton

Cancer is a group of chronic diseases associated with cell growth disorderly in the tissue of some specific organ. Depending on the grade and stage, most cases of cancer in the advanced stage has been found to induce a higher mortality rate compared to cancer diagnosed in the localized stage.

Head and neck cancer is a group of cancers that starts in the cell on the surface of the inner lining of the mouth, nose, throat, larynx, sinuses, or salivary glands.

Squamous cell carcinoma is cancer arisen from the squamous cells found in the outer layer of skin and in the mucous membranes, which are the moist tissues that line body cavities.

 Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) develops in the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, and throat.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) epidemiologically ahs have been found to spread to the lymph nodes or lungs. More than 90% of the head and neck cancer diagnosed are squamous carcinomas.

Symptoms for head and neck cancer may include a lump or sore that does not heal, a sore throat that does not go away, trouble swallowing, or a change in the voice.

According to the statistics provided by the Western General Hospital, squamous cell cancer of the head and neck is common worldwide accounting for 4% of all cancers in the United States and  5% in the United Kingdom.

The exact causes of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) are unknown. However, geographically, smoking tobacco, drinking alcohol, and long term poor diet is important to risk factors in the West compared to risk factors of chewing betel or areca nuts, smoking bidis, and taking snuff are important in the Indian subcontinent. 

More importantly, the genetic preposition of genome 9p21, which may indicate loss of a gene that suppresses tumors accounts for a total of 70% of all cases.

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 to treat flatulence, bloating, and appetite loss, ulcers, eczema, inflammations, etc.

On finding a potential ingredient for the treatment of head and neck cancer, researchers examined the effect of curcumin on head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) using a panel of cell lines with and without human papillomavirus (HPV+, HPV-).

According to the tested differentiation, curcumin treatment of HNSCC cell lines not only interfered RNA of Skp2, that causes cancer tumorigenesis and radiation tolerance but also induced concomitant accumulation of p21 and p27 associated with a cells cycle arrest in HPV+, HPV- cells.

Furthermore, curcumin inhibits cells viability and induces apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner in the tested cell line with and without human papillomavirus (HPV+, HPV-).

Moreover, curcumin treatment of HPV+ and HPV- cells resulted in apoptosis via the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis and activation of caspases that play a critical role in programmed cell death.

Additionally, the inhibition of HPV+ and HPV- cells by curcumin was also found to suppress the expression of poor prognostic markers such as XIAP, and cancer survival such as cIAP1, and cIAP2.

More importantly, co-treatment of HNSCC cells with curcumin and cisplatin potentiated inhibition of cell viability and apoptotic effects.

Based on the findings, researchers wrote in the final report, "these data suggest an important function for curcumin, acting as a suppressor of oncoprotein Skp2 in squamous cell carcinoma cells in both HPV+ and HPV- cells".

Taken altogether, turmeric processed abundantly bioactive compound curcumin may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of HNSCC, 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) Curcumin-Mediated Degradation of S-Phase Kinase Protein 2 Induces Cytotoxic Effects in Human Papillomavirus-Positive and Negative Squamous Carcinoma Cells by Khan AQ1, Siveen KS1, Prabhu KS1, Kuttikrishnan S1, Akhtar S1, Shaar A1, Raza A2, Mraiche F3, Dermime S2, Uddin S. (PubMed)
(2) TriCurin, a novel formulation of curcumin, epicatechin gallate, and resveratrol, inhibits the tumorigenicity of human papillomavirus-positive head and neck squamous cell carcinoma by Piao L1,2, Mukherjee S3,4, Chang Q4,5, Xie X1,2, Li H6, Castellanos MR7, Banerjee P3,4, Iqbal H1,2, Ivancic R1,2, Wang X1,2, Teknos TN1,2, Pan Q. (PubMed)
(3) Squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck by R J Sanderson, consultant otolaryngologist and J A D Ironside, consultant clinical oncologist. (PMC)