The present study investigated the antitumor activity and chemopreventive effects of a nanoparticle formulation of curcumin in preclinical models of mouse Pten-deficient prostate cancer. The antitumor activity of the nanoparticle curcumin was evaluated in mouse castration-naïve (7113-D3) and castration-resistant prostate cancer (2945-E10) derived cell lines in vitro. Cell viability was reduced in both cell lines in a dose and time-dependent manner. The effects of long-term dietary supplementation with the nanoparticle curcumin formulation were evaluated in a conditional Pten-deficient mouse model. Prostate tissues from Pten-deficient prostate cancers were obtained after sixteen weeks of dietary supplementation of 76 mg/kg/day or 380 mg/kg/day nanoparticle curcumin. Daily supplementation of nanoparticle curcumin did not affect mouse bodyweights or spleen size but did result in enlargement of the liver. Dietary supplementation did not influence tumor burden, however, mice fed high-dose curcumin had lower cancer cell proliferation rates at 12 and 16 weeks of age. Together, these results show that daily supplementation of a nanoparticle formulation of curcumin is tolerable and suggest that curcumin could have chemopreventive activity in early-stage prostate cancer.

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