Anticancer Effects of Curcumin, Artemisinin, Genistein, and Resveratrol, and Vitamin C: Free Versus Liposomal Forms

Abstract

Cancer prevention supplements, which also provide effective treatment with minimal side effects, are urgently needed. An accurate, fast assay system is described that reveals the ability of chemically defined products, such as curcumin, genistein, resveratrol, artemisinin, and vitamin C, to kill K562 Erythroleukemic cells in vitro. In addition, curcumin and vitamin C were encapsulated into fatty acid micelles named NutraNanoSpheres TM (NNS) using all natural products. A unique viability stain, which allows the rapid staining of dead cells by membrane penetration using Propidium Iodide, was used to measure the cell viability by flow cytometry. Cell death by alteration of the cell membranes could be seen within 30 s of exposure to curcumin. The other free components required 0.5 -70 h to see maximum killing, suggesting a more metabolic and/or apoptotic route of cancer cell destruction. Vitamin C up to 1 × 10 4 µmol/well did not affect K562 cell viability. The vitamin C-NNS (3.2 nm diameter-60 mg/50 µL) showed an LD 50 = 133 µmol/well ± 11 SD (n = 4), which was over 75 times more potent than the free vitamin C. The curcumin-NNS (7.4 nm diameter-25 mg/50 µL) resulted in an LD 50 = 41.3 µmol/well ± 5.6 SD (n = 8) and represented a 264 fold increase in activity to destroy the cancer cells. The clinical goal is to develop water-soluble mixtures of anti-cancer compounds in the NNS with their high bioavailability (>90%) and without degradation in the stomach for preventing and curing cancer.

Herpes/SARS-CoV-2 Treatment with Micellized Nutraceuticals

“…Furthermore, Curcumin has been shown to delay the progression of cataract development [22], protect against inflammatory markers and lipid metabolism in streptozotocininduced diabetes, and decrease cognitive impairment in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease [23], and has have shown enhanced anti-cancer activity [24].…”

Chitosan Nanoparticles Potentiate the in vitro and in vivo Effects of Curcumin and other Natural Compounds

“…Curcumin, a natural compound with elevated therapeutic potential and derived from Curcuma sp., has been extensively studied due to its broad spectrum of in vitro effects, such as antioxidant [7], anti-inflammatory [8], and antimicrobial activities [9]. Also, in vivo evaluations have shown anticancer activity [10,11] and protection against neurological [12] and cardiovascular diseases [13].…”

Folic acid-chitosan nanomaterials for delivery of dietary polyphenols

“…Folic acid-conjugated with biodegradable chitosan nanoparticles were often used as drug delivery tools [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Antioxidant polyphenols, resveratrol, genistein and curcumin (Scheme 1) shown major protection against cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and DNA damage [15,16]. However, due to insolubility of these polyphenols, the bioavailability of these micronutrients is limited, while encapsulation can increase their solubility and enhances bioavailability in solution [1,2].…”