PLoS One: mechanism of curcumin inhibiting metastasis of colon cancer

A new scientific study has identified curcumin, a bioactive molecule derived from Curcuma longa, as one of the mechanisms by which cancer cells in colon cancer can be prevented from metastasizing Curcumin can block the protein cortical protein of colon cancer Cortical protein is a necessary protein for cancer cell movement It is often overexpressed in cancer, which promotes cancer cells to transfer to other organs of the body In the United States, colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths and the third most common cancer in men and women When the tumor is transferred to other organs, the patient's chances of survival are greatly reduced Therefore, it is still urgent to find new ways to prevent cancer cell metastasis Curcumin is the active component of curcumin, which has been used in the treatment of many types of cancer Curcumin has been shown to have a chemopreventive effect on cancer, reversing, inhibiting or preventing the development of cancer A new study has found one of the mechanisms by which curcumin prevents the metastasis of colon cancer cells The team found that the activated part of the cortical protein, ptyr421, was overactivated in colon cancer We found that the over activation of cortical protein was caused by the over phosphorylation process Phosphorylation is responsible for turning proteins on and off, changing their function and activity Hyperphosphorylation and activation of cortical proteins have been closely related to cancer invasiveness The researchers used curcumin to treat colon cancer cells and found that curcumin can turn off the active form of cortical protein, so when cortical protein is turned off, cancer cells lose their ability to move and cannot transfer to other parts of the body " More specifically, curcumin "shuts down" cortical protein by interacting with cortical protein and activating PTPN1 enzyme As a kind of phosphatase, PTPN1 can remove phosphate group from cortical protein, that is, dephosphorylation However, dephosphorylation of cortical protein is associated with decreased migration of colon cancer cells By identifying curcumin activating enzyme PTPN1 and then shutting down the active site of cortical protein ptyr421, we believe that it can be developed into a chemopreventive drug against cortical protein of cancer cells to prevent metastasis of cancer.