- Scientists have found a very unusual potential cancer-fighting technique: nanoparticles that carry curry into cancer cells. Specifically the particles were filled with curcumin, a compound found in curry.
The research by scientists from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Austria was published in the Journal of Nanobiotechnology on Dec. 6.
Curcumin comes from the turmeric plant, which is commonly used in daals and other curries, and known for its distinctive bright yellow powder.
We already knew that curcumin works as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. Other research has shown that when curcumin is absorbed by tumor cells, it stops the cell's growth cycle eventually killing the cell.
The trick is getting the curcumin into the cancerous cells.
Curcumin does not easily dissolve in water, so cells are unlikely to absorb the compound on their own. That's why simply eating lots of curry won't fight cancer. So the researchers packed the curcumin into tiny fat blobs called emulsomes. Emulsomes have a solid core of fat surrounded by a lipid layer that cells absorb easily.
The researchers packed curcumin into the middle of these emulsomes and dubbed them "CurcuEmulsomes." They tested the effectiveness of CurcuEmulsomes by exposing them to cancer cells in the lab. The cells successfully absorbed the CurcuEmulsomes. As the outer emulsome dissolved, the curcumin was slowly and steadily released into the cells.
In the far right section of the graph below you can see how less
