Curcumin Inhibits Skin Squamous Cell Carcinoma Tumor Growth In Vivo

Objective. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCCa) has increased from 4% to 10% over 4 decades, stimulating interest in developing novel agents that slow sun-damaged skin progression. This is the first study evaluating the naturally occurring bioactive food compound curcumin on skin cancer xenografts. Low bioavailability of curcumin has slowed its transition to clinical trials. It is hypothesized that curcumin has growth-inhibitory effects through the MTOR pathway and chemopreventive potential in skin SCCa where local application could bypass bioavailability problems. Study Design. A randomized experimental animal and laboratory study. Setting. Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Shreveport, Louisiana. Subjects and Methods. SCID mice were pretreated with 0, 5, or 15 mg of curcumin (n = 8 per group), 3 days prior to injecting 10(6) SRB12-p9 skin SCCa cells in each flank, and were gavaged daily thereafter. Tumor volumes were measured and tumors were harvested on day 24 when mice were sacrificed. Immunohistochemical analysis of pS6 expression (n = 3 per group) and tumor volumes in the 3 groups were compared using 1-way analysis of variance and pairwise comparisons were determined with the Tukey t test if overall comparisons were significant. Results. Tumor volume increased 2.3 times faster in control mice compared with the group receiving 15 mg of curcumin (P = .0003). A significant difference in average tumor volumes was seen (P = .0012), especially with treatment of 15 mg of curcumin compared with control P = .0003). Curcumin inhibited S6 phosphorylation (P = .0027), suggesting inhibition of the MTOR pathway. Conclusion. Curcumin appears to inhibit skin SCCa growth and blocks tumor progression by inhibiting pS6 even when gavage is used to deliver curcumin, indicating even more significant effects in future experiments with local application.