Herbal extracts curcumin and Qing Dai induce remission in active ulcerative colitis patients

Researchers from the Department of Gastroenterology, Sheba Medical Center, Israel Sackler School of Medicine said that We evaluated the efficacy of the herbal combination of curcumin-QingDai (CurQD) in active ulcerative colitis (UC).

Forty-two adults with a history of active UC were randomly assigned to an enteric-coated pill containing 3 g of curcumin and Qing Dai (CurQD) or a placebo for eight weeks.

The study results are:

• In part 1, 7/10 patients responded, and 3/10 achieved clinical remission.
• Of 42 patients in part 2, week eight coprimary outcome was achieved in 43% and 8% of CurQD and placebo patients, respectively.
• Of the CurQD patients, 43% met the coprimary endpoint compared to 8% of the placebo.
• Clinical response was observed in 86% of the CurQD patients vs 31% of the placebo patients.
• Clinical remission was observed in 50% of CurQD and 8% of placebo patients.
• Endoscopic improvement was observed in 75% of the CurQD patients vs 20% of the placebo patients.
• The responses were maintained at 16 weeks with maintenance curcumin alone.
• There were comparable adverse events between groups.
• By week 16, curcumin-maintained clinical response, clinical remission and clinical-biomarker response rates were 93%, 80% and 40%, respectively.
• CurQD upregulated mucosal CYP1A1 expression. This was not observed in the placebo.

They said, “In active ulcerative colitis patients, CurQD is effective for inducing response and remission. The AhR-pathway may merit further study as a potential UC treatment target.”

The study's main limitations were the modest cohort size and the absence of histologic outcomes.

Further reading:

https://www.cghjournal.org/article/S1542-3565(23)00445-7/pdf