Synergistic anti-cancer effects of docosahexaenoic acid and curcumin on breast cancer initiation and progression

4^th World Congress on Cancer Science & Therapy

October 20-22, 2014 DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Chicago-North Shore Conference Center, USA

Rafat A Siddiqui, Kevin Harvey and Zhidong Xu

Accepted Abstracts: J Cancer Sci Ther

Abstract :

The major obstacles to the successful use of individual nutritional compounds as preventive or therapeutic agents are their efficacy and bioavailability. One approach to overcoming these problems is to use combinations of nutrients to induce synergistic effects. We investigated the synergistic effects of two dietary components: Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid present in cold-water fish, and curcumin (CCM), an herbal nutrient present in turmeric, on breast cancer using in vitro and in vivo models. Co-incubation with DHA & CCM had an anti-proliferative effect in SKBR3, MDA-MB-231, MDAMB- 361, MCF7, and MCF10AT cells; the effect was synergistic for SKBR3 (ER- PR- HER2+), relative to the two compounds individually. CCM + DHA triggered transcript-level responses in disease-relevant functional categories. These responses were largely non-overlapping with changes caused by CCM or DHA individually. Genes involved in cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, inhibition of metastasis, and cell adhesion were up-regulated, whereas genes involved in cancer development and progression, metastasis, and cell cycle progression were down-regulated. The transcriptomic data show that antiproliferation synergy accompanies many signaling events unique to the combined presence of the two compounds. The in vivo studies demonstrated that DHA+ CCM treatment reduced the incidence of breast tumor, delayed tumor initiation, and reduced the development of tumor. The synergistic effects of DHA and CCM were likely mediated by regulating the expression of cytochrome P450 A1/B1 on tumor initiation and by regulating maspin and survivin expression on tumor progression. The combination of DHA and CCM is a potential dietary supplemental treatment for some breast cancers, likely dependent upon the molecular phenotype of the cancer cells.

Biography :

Rafat A Siddiqui earned his PhD from Australian National University in Canberra, Australia and completed Postdoctoral studies at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand. He is a Senior Investigator at Methodist Research Institute, Indiana University Health where he directs programs in Cellular Biochemistry and Lipid Biology. He has published more than 100 papers in respected journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member on several journals, including the British Journal of Nutrition and the Journal of Nutrition Sciences.