Curcumin in Turmeric as a plant-based therapy for breast cancer through inhibition of the mTOR signalling pathway

Avantika Naina Mohan

breast cancer, curcumin, cytotoxicity mTOR pathway, rapamycin

With the incidence of cancer, and thus, breast cancer becoming more common, finding a treatment that would reduce the number of patients being lost in the follow-up period either due to complications associated with treatment or metastasis, is of utmost importance. Research suggests that relying on plant-based compounds may be the answer. Several papers point to substances in plants that have anti- cancer compounds which, when developed, can be used in medication for cancer. In this paper, we review curcumin (diferuloylmethane) found in turmeric (haldi), a common ingredient in medicinal and food products in India, as an inhibitory compound on the mTOR pathway which is followed in breast cancer cells. The advantage this treatment has is suggested to be extremely low, to none, cytotoxic effects on the cells. To this effect, this paper proposes a comparative study to be conducted between the synthetic drug rapamycin and natural curcumin, due to their similar targets in the pathways, in order to investigate which of the two could be a more effective therapeutic compound.

https://dx.doi.org/10.31873/IJEAS.9.05.07