Curcumin in Combination With 5FU for Colon Cancer

A Pilot, Feasibility Study of Curcumin in Combination With 5FU for Patients With 5FU-Resistant Metastatic Colon Cancer

The purpose of this study is to test the safety and find the response rate of combining the dietary supplement, curcumin, with the standard of care, FDA-approved chemotherapy drug 5-fluorouracil (5FU, Adracil) and see what effects (good and bad) that the combined treatments have on colon cancer.

Confirm clinical safety and identify clinical response rate of combination treatment with curcumin and 5FU in chemorefractory CRC patients. To determine whether curcumin administration induces systemic alterations in inflammatory and epigenetic biomarkers in patients with chemoresistant metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC). To correlate altered biomarker findings with clinical response according to RECIST V1.1 and survival criteria.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Male or female 18 years or older, at the time of signing the informed consent.
• Capable of giving written informed consent, which includes compliance with the requirements and restrictions listed in the consent form.
• Histologically or cytologically confirmed diagnosis of metastatic colorectal cancer that is not response to standard 5FU based therapies.
• Performance Status (PS) score of 0 to 2 according to the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) scale.
• Able to swallow and retain oral medication.
• A female subject is eligible to participate if she is of:
• Non-childbearing potential defined as pre-menopausal females with a documented tubal ligation or hysterectomy; or postmenopausal defined as 12 months of spontaneous amenorrhea (in questionable cases a blood sample with simultaneous follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) >40 mili-internation unit (MIU)/ml and estradiol <40 pg/ml (140pmol/L) is confirmatory
• Child-bearing potential and agrees to use a contraception method of abstinence, intrauterine device (IUD), barrier methods or birth control pills prior to the start of dosing to sufficiently minimize the risk of pregnancy at that point and until three months after the last dose of the study medication.
• Male subjects must agree to use a method of contraception. This criterion must be followed from the time of the first dose of study medication until three months after the last dose of study medication.
• Adequate organ system function defined as follows:

System Laboratory Values Hematologic Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) ≥ 1.5 x 10^9/L Hemoglobin ≥ 9.5 g/dL Platelets ≥ 75 x 10^9/L For subjects not on warfarin-based anticoagulants: Prothrombin time/International normalized ratio (PT/INR) and partial thromboplastin time (PTT) ≤ 1.1x upper limit of normal (ULN) INR (subjects on warfarin-based anticoagulant): 2-3 x ULN Hepatic Total bilirubin ≤ 1.5x ULN (isolated bilirubin > 1.5x ULN is acceptable if bilirubin is fractionated and direct bilirubin < 35%) Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) 1 ≤ 1.5x ULN Albumin ≥ 2.5 g/dL Renal Creatinine ≤ ULN; or Calculated creatinine clearance2 ≥ 50 mL/min; or Metabolic Fasting Serum Glucose < 250 mg/dL Cardiac Left Ventricular Ejection fraction (LVEF) ≥ lower limit of normal (LLN) by echocardiogram (ECHO) Blood pressure Systolic < 160 mm Hg and Diastolic < 100 mm Hg.

1. If liver metastases are present, AST and ALT ≤ 2.5x ULN is permitted
2. As calculated by Cockcroft-Gault formula.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, or other anti-cancer therapy including investigational drugs within 28 days or 5 half-lives, whichever is shorter prior to the first dose of any one of the investigational drugs described in this study.
• Unresolved toxicity by National Cancer Institute (NCI) Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, Version 4.0 (NCI-CTCAE V4) of > Grade 1 from previous anti-cancer therapy.
• Presence of active GI disease or other condition that could affect gastrointestinal absorption (malabsorption syndrome) or predispose a subject to GI ulceration.
• Evidence of mucosal or internal bleeding
• Any major surgery within the last four weeks
• Uncontrolled diabetes mellitus
• Any malignancy related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), known history of HIV, history of known Hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface antigen positivity (subjects with documented laboratory evidence of HBV clearance may be enrolled) or positive Hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody.
• Known active infection requiring parenteral or oral anti-infective treatment.
• Subjects with brain metastases are excluded if their brain metastases are:
• Symptomatic
• Treated (surgery, radiation therapy) but not clinically and radiographically stable one month after therapy (as assessed by at least 2 distinct contrast enhanced MRI or CT scans over at least a one month period), or
• Asymptomatic and untreated but > 1 cm in the longest dimension
• History or evidence of current clinically significant uncontrolled arrhythmias.
• Subjects with controlled atrial fibrillation for >1 month prior to study Day 1 are eligible.
• History of acute coronary syndromes (including unstable angina), myocardial infarction, coronary angioplasty, or stenting or bypass grafting within six months of screening.
• Class II, III, or IV heart failure as defined by the New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classification system.
• Any serious or unstable pre-existing medical, psychiatric, or other condition (including lab abnormalities) that could interfere with subject's safety or providing informed consent.
• Known immediate or delayed hypersensitivity to any of the components of the study treatment(s).
• Evidence of severe or uncontrolled systemic diseases (unstable or uncompensated respiratory, hepatic, renal, or cardiac disease, including unstable hypertension).
• Pregnant or lactating females.