curcumin and quercetin antagonistic?

knairb01
knairb01 Member Posts: 4
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
I've found just one study in which quercetin and curcumin were administered together. The results were positive. However, another study may suggest that they are antagonistic. I am almost completely ignorant about the mechanisms of signalling pathways. Hopefully, one of you readers knows these pathways and can interpret the results. The study is called "Curcumin and Quercetin Combined with Cisplatin to Induce Apoptosis in Human Laryngeal Carcinoma Hep-2 Cells through the Mitochondrial Pathway" by Kuhar, et. al. and is available for free from the "Journal of Cancer Molecules". In the Results on page 124, the authors say, "Nuclear AIF was decreased by 21.0% with curcumin treatment, whereas it increased by 20.0% with quercetin...". In the Discussion on page 127, they say, "This suggests that curcumin enhanced the apoptotic response possibly by a caspase-3-independent pathway involving the participation of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-XL protein and pro-apoptotic Bax and mediated by the AIF protein." If their hypothesis is correct, would quercetin and curcumin be antagonistic? Please explain.

Comments

  • survivor51
    survivor51 Member Posts: 276
    #2
    This is way above my head and hoping someone can answer you question. What type cancer and when were you dx?
  • seof
    seof Member Posts: 819 Member
    #3
    It's above my head too. Maybe you could ask your Dr. to read it and explain it to you. If not your Dr., maybe another one? Maybe take it to someone at a medical school, if there is one nearby? Sorry, I am out of my element with that.

    Hope you find your answer. seof
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #4
    Have you tried calling the AMerican Cancer Society 1-800-ACS-2345? They are available 24 hours and will try to answer, or look up resources to answer, cancer questions. I am afraid my knowledge is useless, here. Good luck, and good job learning so much!
    Joyce
  • phoenixrising
    phoenixrising Member Posts: 1,508
    #5
    I didn't read the whole article, just the abstract, but this would be my take on the study you are referring to.

    It looks like they are priming Laryngeal Carcinoma Hep-2 cell lines with natural chemopreventatives and antioxidants and then giving cisplatin after to see if they enhance the chemo.

    The cisplatin induced apoptosis was increased with both, 7.1% with curcumin and 16.3% with quercetin. They did this through two different pathways.

    This was their conclusion: CONCLUSION: The data suggests that priming with curcumin or quercetin may improve the efficacy of chemotherapy for head and neck cancer by inducing apoptosis through the mitochondrial pathway, thus minimizing the side effects associated with combination chemotherapy.

    So they would be antagonistic towards the cancer cell line. If it were an agonist I think it would promote tumour growth. That isn't the official meaning of agonist but that's how I see it in the case of breast cancer and substances that promote its growth. The official meaning is:
    a chemical substance capable of combining with a specific receptor on a cell and initiating the same reaction or activity typically produced by the binding endogenous substance

    If I'm wrong, hopefully someone will correct me.
    Hope this helps.
    jan
  • 3cbrca
    3cbrca Member Posts: 206
    #6
    Wow. This is way over my head. I think this is something that you need to discuss with a physician/scientist and not all of them will be able to answer, if molecular science is not their particular area of expertise. These studies need to be interpreted in the much larger context of all of the research that is being done (both clinical and basci science).

    I too get out there and try and research, but we have to recognize that some of this is a "Brave New World". My docs are all researchers and I often get "I don't know" as an answer to my questions. I am satisfied with my choice of docs, I keep asking questions when I see someting that might help and then I just have to accept that we together are doing all we can and that the outcome is unknown.
    I really applaud you trying to stay ahead of your disease.
    She
  • knairb01
    knairb01 Member Posts: 4
    #7
    Thank you all for your replies. To anyone looking to research this topic himself, please see the clarification I provide phoenixrising below. Feel free to reply to this topic at any time, even years from the posting date; it may help someone else.

    survivor51: my mom has triple negative breast cancer and was diagnosed back in '02.

    Joycelouise: Thank you for the phone number.

    phoenixrising: Thank you for providing your analysis of the article. By "would quercetin and curcumin be antagonistic", I meant, would they be antagonistic toward each other, not just toward the cancer.
  • phoenixrising
    phoenixrising Member Posts: 1,508
    #8
    knairb01 said:

    Thank you all for your replies. To anyone looking to research this topic himself, please see the clarification I provide phoenixrising below. Feel free to reply to this topic at any time, even years from the posting date; it may help someone else.

    survivor51: my mom has triple negative breast cancer and was diagnosed back in '02.

    Joycelouise: Thank you for the phone number.

    phoenixrising: Thank you for providing your analysis of the article. By "would quercetin and curcumin be antagonistic", I meant, would they be antagonistic toward each other, not just toward the cancer.

    No, I don't think they would be antagonistic towards each other at all. Glad I could be of some help.
  • AuthorUnknown
    AuthorUnknown Member Posts: 1,537 Member
    #9
    Hello Ladies,

    I just wanted to let you know that if you choose to quote from a study, please provide a link to the original information so that others can see where the information is coming from and can read the entire study. This will help to make sure that information shared is the most helpful it can be.

    Thank you for all of your contributions!

    Dana
  • knairb01
    knairb01 Member Posts: 4
    #10
    AuthorUnknown said:

    Hello Ladies,

    I just wanted to let you know that if you choose to quote from a study, please provide a link to the original information so that others can see where the information is coming from and can read the entire study. This will help to make sure that information shared is the most helpful it can be.

    Thank you for all of your contributions!

    Dana

    The study I was referring to is here: http://www.mupnet.com/JOCM 3(4) 121.htm
  • knairb01
    knairb01 Member Posts: 4
    #11
    phoenixrising said:

    No, I don't think they would be antagonistic towards each other at all. Glad I could be of some help.

    Do you see what I think the problem may be? The authors say that curcumin decreased AIF, while quercetin increased it, but the authors speculate that the apoptotic effect curcumin has is mediated by AIF. So, because curcumin affects AIF one way, and quercetin in the opposite way, the apoptotic effect of curcumin may be lessened.

Discussion Boards