Study Focuses on Curcumin to Treat Cancer

Scientists will investigate whether tablets containing curcumin, a compound found in the spice turmeric, can be safely added to the standard treatment for bowel cancer that has spread.

A new study by scientists at the Cancer Research UK and National Institute for Health Research Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) in Leicester will investigate whether tablets containing curcumin, a compound found in the spice turmeric, can be safely added to the standard treatment for bowel cancer that has spread.

Laboratory tests have suggested that curcumin can enhance the ability of chemotherapy drugs to kill bowel cancer cells.

Forty patients with bowel cancer that has spread to the liver will be recruited to take part in a two-year study.

Patients with advanced bowel cancer are normally given a treatment called Folfox, which combines three chemotherapy drugs. But around 40–60% of