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The Effects of Curcumin on the Side Effects of Anticancer Drugs in Chemotherapy: A Randomized Controlled Trial

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Natural Products and Human Diseases

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((PMISB,volume 1328))

Abstract

Curcumin, the active ingredient of the spice turmeric, has been shown to have anticancer activities in several preclinical and clinical studies. The prophylactic effect of curcumin against chemotherapy-induced damage and side effects was evaluated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial. Eighty cancer patients on standard chemotherapy regimens were randomly assigned to receive curcumin as adjuvant therapy (500 mg per 12 hours) and matched control group to receive placebo for 9 weeks. Pre- and post-intervention, the changes in the health-related quality-of-Life (QoL) score (based on the University of Washington Quality-of-Life (UW-QoL) questionnaire, version 3), clinical symptoms, and hematological and biochemical parameters were assessed. Comparison between groups based on total QoL score showed that curcumin supplementation was not associated with improved QoL (P = 0.102). Hematological and biochemical analysis showed no statistical differences between the groups at the end of the trial (P > 0.05). However, during the trial, significant differences were observed in hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (HCT), lactic acid dehydrogenase (LDH), serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT), and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) between the groups (P < 0.05). Future studies in a larger homogenous population of cancer patients are required to confirm the adjuvant effect of curcumin on chemotherapy-induced QoL.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the clinical research development department of the Baqiyatallah Hospital.

Conflict of Interest

Muhammed Majeed is the founder of the Sami-Sabinsa group. The other authors have no other conflicting interests to disclose.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pharmacotherapy Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Yunes Panahi

  2. Trauma research Center, Nursing Faculty, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Amir Vahedian-Azimi

  3. Department of Internal Medicine, Baqiyatallah Hospital, Tehran, Iran

    Alireza Saadat

  4. Department of Internal Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Gholamreza Togeh

  5. Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran

    Farshid Rahimibashar

  6. Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Khatamolanbia Hospital, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran

    Masoum Khosh Fetrat

  7. Department of Radiopharmacy, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran

    Hossein Amirfakhrian

  8. Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, Al-Zahraa University for Women, Karbala, Iraq

    Seyed Adel Moallem

  9. Department of Pharmacodynamics and Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    Seyed Adel Moallem

  10. Sabinsa Corporation, East Windsor, NJ, USA

    Muhammed Majeed

  11. Applied Biomedical Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    Amirhossein Sahebkar

  12. Biotechnology Research Center, Pharmaceutical Technology Institute, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    Amirhossein Sahebkar

  13. School of Medicine The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia

    Amirhossein Sahebkar

  14. School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    Amirhossein Sahebkar

Authors
  1. Yunes Panahi
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  2. Amir Vahedian-Azimi
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  3. Alireza Saadat
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  4. Gholamreza Togeh
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  5. Farshid Rahimibashar
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  6. Masoum Khosh Fetrat
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  7. Hossein Amirfakhrian
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  8. Seyed Adel Moallem
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  9. Muhammed Majeed
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  10. Amirhossein Sahebkar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amirhossein Sahebkar .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Pharmacy, Medical Biotechnology, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    Amirhossein Sahebkar

  2. Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism, The University of Hull, Brough, UK

    Thozhukat Sathyapalan

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Panahi, Y. et al. (2021). The Effects of Curcumin on the Side Effects of Anticancer Drugs in Chemotherapy: A Randomized Controlled Trial. In: Sahebkar, A., Sathyapalan, T. (eds) Natural Products and Human Diseases. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology(), vol 1328. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73234-9_17

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