Curcumin inhibits human lung large cell carcinoma cancer tumour growth in a murine xenograft model

Abstract

Curcumin can decrease viable cells through the induction of apoptosis in human lung cancer NCI‐H460 cells in vitro. However, there are no reports that curcumin can inhibit cancer cells in vivo. In this study, NCI‐H460 lung tumour cells were implanted directly into nude mice and divided randomly into four groups to be treated with vehicle, curcumin (30 mg/kg of body weight), curcumin (45 mg/kg of body weight) and doxorubicin (8 mg/kg of body weight). Each agent was injected once every 4 days intraperitoneally (i.p.), with treatment starting 4 weeks after inoculation with the NCI‐H460 cells. Treatment with 30 mg/kg and 45 mg/kg of curcumin or with 8 mg/kg of doxorubicin resulted in a reduction in tumour incidence, size and weight compared with the control group. The findings indicate that curcumin can inhibit tumour growth in a NCI‐H460 xenograft animal model in vivo. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.