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Research Projects

Investigating the effect of mitocurcumin on metastatic potential of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

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NSCLC is any type of epithelial lung cancer other than Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC), it constitutes 85% of all lung cancers. Except for the well-localized tumours, the standard care treatment outcomes are poor for NSCLC largely due to rapid metastases and the prevailing chemo-resistance. Only 0.01% of cells leaving the primary tumor successfully metastasize, yet it contributes to 90% of cancer related deaths. Mitocurcumin (mitoC) is a biologically active targeted herbal mitocan with greater lipid solubility and selectivity to mitochondrial cell membrane.In preclinical studies, mitoC revealed significant cytotoxic and anti-proliferative activities against MCF-7, MDAMB-231, SKNSH, DU-145 and HeLa cancer cells with considerably lower IC50 values than curcumin. Recent studies have highlighted the role of mitochondrial dynamics in cancer metastasis, and interestingly in our observation mitocurcumin treatment caused significant changes in mitochondrial dynamics. In addition to this, in-vitro results from our lab showed a decrease in the migration and invasion of cells (A549,H1299 and LLC-1) upon mitocurcumin treatment. These results were observed at a dose as low as 1uM of mitocurcumin, hence it might also be effective in mitigating metastasis. With an array of activities mediated through novel mechanisms, mitoC can be a candidate molecule for NSCLC metastasis. Hence this study is planned to evaluate the anti-metastatic activity of mitoC in syngeneic and CDX derived lung metastasis model.

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