Oral administration of nanomicelle curcumin in the prevention of radiotherapy‐induced mucositis in head and neck cancers

Abstract

Oral mucositis (OM) is a complication of head and neck cancer (HNC) therapy with negative impact on the quality of life. Although definitive treatment has not yet been established, there is interest towards the use of natural compounds owing to their few side effects. Curcumin has a variety of biological and pharmacological properties including anticancer and anti‐inflammatory effects. Aim The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of curcumin in the form of nanomicelle on OM in HNC patients receiving radiotherapy. Methods In this clinical trial, 32 HNC patients were allocated to case and control groups, and respectively received nanocurcumin or placebo during radiotherapy. Results We found a statistically significant difference in the severity of mucositis between the 2 groups at all visits. In contrast to the control‐group patients, who all developed OM in the 2nd week of radiotherapy, only 32% of the case group developed OM with no obvious oral or systemic side effects. Conclusion Our data show that nanomicelle curcumin is an effective agent in the prevention of OM or reducing its severity. Thus, the administration of nanocurcumin can be considered as a reasonable approach to hinder the development of OM in HNC patients requiring radiotherapy.

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Efficacy of Curcumin/Turmeric for the Prevention and Amelioration of Radiotherapy/Radiochemotherapy Induced Oral Mucositis in Head and Neck Cancer Patients

“…Seven randomized controlled trials (Rao et al, 2014, Mansourian et al, 2015, Patil et al, 2015, Charanthimath, 2016, Delavarian et al, 2019, Arun et al, 2020, Shah et al, 2021 non randomised controlled trials (Adhvaryu et al, 2018, Saldanha andAlmeida, 2014) investigated the efficacy/effects of curcumin in oral mucositis. Evaluation period varied from 5 days to 8 weeks, follow up visits were 5 days (Saldanha and Almeida, 2014), 2 weeks (Charanthimath, 2016), 20 days (Patil et al, 2015), 42 OR (("head" "[All Fields] AND "neck" "[All Fields] AND "cancer" "[All Fields] or "head and neck cancer" OR "Head and Neck Neoplasms"[MeSH Terms])AND (("stomatitis"[MeSH Terms} OR "stomatitis[All Fields] OR ("oral" [All Fields]AND "mucositis" [All Fields])) OR "oral mucositis:[All Fields].…”

Medical and pharmacokinetic effects of nanopolyphenols: A systematic review of clinical trials

“…The effect of nanocurcumin on oral mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer who are receiving radiotherapy was assessed (Delavarian et al., 2019). The severity of oral mucositis was found to significantly decrease in the treatment group compared to the control group.…”

“…Adverse events reported after the use of nanopolyphenols in the included studies were minimal. Of the 18 studies that provided this information, a total of 12 studies reported no adverse effects during or after treatment (Abdolahi et al., 2018; Afshar et al., 2020; Alizadeh et al., 2018; Amorndoljai et al., 2017; Delavarian et al., 2019; Dolati, Aghebati‐Maleki et al., 2018; Farhadi et al., 2018; Gallelli et al., 2020; Hashemzadeh et al., 2020; Javadi et al., 2019; Parohan et al., 2019; Sasaki et al., 2011). Mild adverse events reported include stomachache (Asadi et al., 2019; Asadi, Gholami, Siassi, Qorbani et al., 2019) and nausea (Jazayeri‐Tehrani et al., 2019).…”

Aplicações clínicas da curcumina (Curcuma longa) em desordens orais

“…Outrossim, encontrou-se 4 trabalhos aplicando curcumina em cápsulas, colutório e agente fotossensibilizante na terapia fotodinâmica no combate a MO durante o tratamento de câncer, e em todos o resultado foi de retardamento do início das lesões, bem como redução da gravidade e melhora no estado geral de saúde (Delavarian et. al, 2019;Pinheiro et.…”