I’m referring to my ad hoc clinical trial of one in which I cycle the use of curcumin. A bit of background info is probably needed so bear with me.
Back on September 9th of last year I started on 28 day Revlimid+Dex regimen (25 mg days 1-21 + 20 mg days 1, 8 & 15). After a 75% reduction in my protein expression in the first 3 cycles dex was stopped. A further 10% serum protein reduction was achieved in the next 2 cycles as well as improvements in antibody levels and lambda/kappa ratio. The 6th cycle saw a 10% increase. A supplement regimen was started at the beginning of the 7th cycle which consisted of C3 complex curcuminiods (8 gr), organic flax seed oil (1 gr) and EPA/DHA (860/580 mg). A 3% decrease in protein expression was seen.
Was the response just a normal fluctuation in expression or correlated with the supplementation? The synergistic effects of curcumin with bortezomib and thalidomide have been observed by Aggarwhal’s group at MD Anderson both in vitro and in a xenograft model in nude mice. (http://tinyurl.com/c2hlfx) So to address the question a cycling of supplementation vs. no supplementation was started. Relative to the previous cycle the trend is:
Cycle 7 (supplementation) 11% decrease
Cycle 8 (no supplementation) 45% increase
Cycle 9 (supplementation) 24% decrease
Cycle 10 (no supplementation) ???
I’ll let you know what happens this summer (June 22nd)…
Enjoy the rest of spring and cycle if you can! I’ll be waiting for a heat wave reading a good book by the fire at our camp.
