Chemopreventive and Antitumor Efficacy of Curcumin in a Spontaneously Developing Hen Ovarian Cancer Model

We investigated the effect of daily dietary curcumin intake on the development and progression of spontaneous ovarian cancer in a galline (hen) model, as the chicken is the only nonhuman animal in which ovarian cancer spontaneously develops with a high prevalence. At the end of 12 months, ovarian cancer had spontaneously developed in 39% (35/90) of control hens not fed curcumin ( = 90). In comparison, it spontaneously developed in 27% (24/90) and 17% (15/90) of hens given curcumin at 25.8 ( = 90) and 53.0 mg/day ( = 90), respectively ( = 0.004). This represented significant dose-dependent reductions in overall ovarian cancer incidence in the 25.8 and 53.0 mg/day curcumin-fed groups (31% and 57%, respectively). Daily curcumin intake also reduced ovarian tumor sizes ( = 0.04) and number of tumors ( = 0.006). Evaluation of the molecular mechanisms underlying the chemopreventive and antitumor effects of curcumin revealed that NF-κB and STAT3 signaling pathways were significantly inhibited but that the nuclear factor erythroid 2/heme oxygenase 1 antioxidant pathway was induced by curcumin intake in a dose-dependent manner in ovarian tissues ( < 0.05). Sequencing of the Ras family genes ( , and revealed less frequent and mutations in ovarian tumors in the curcumin-fed animals. In conclusion, our results demonstrated for the first time that daily curcumin intake leads to a significant and dose-dependent reduction in spontaneous ovarian cancer incidence and tumor growth, indicating a tremendous role for curcumin as a chemopreventive strategy for ovarian cancer. .