Curcumin in Reducing Fatigue in Patients with Chemotherapy-Treated Breast Cancer Undergoing Radiotherapy

Inclusion Criteria

• Breast cancer patients
• Patients who were previously treated with standard anthracycline- and/or taxane-based chemotherapy will be recruited for this study
• Patients enrolled in the study will meet standard criteria for whole breast XRT or chest wall XRT for patients who have had mastectomies
• Patients will be included if they have a National Comprehensive Cancer Network score for fatigue over 3 (NCCN > 3) as determined by the standard fatigue scale of 0-10 unless otherwise approved by the principle investigator or principal investigator's (PI’s) designee

Exclusion Criteria

• Participants will be excluded for medical conditions that are contraindications to XRT and/or might confound the relationship among fatigue, and inflammation, including pregnancy, unstable major psychiatric disorders, autoimmune (active within the past 6 months) or inflammatory disorders, chronic infectious diseases (e.g. human immunodeficiency virus [HIV], hepatitis B or C), neurologic disorders and uncontrolled cardiovascular, metabolic, pulmonary or renal disease (as determined by medical history, physical examination or laboratory testing) unless otherwise approved by the PI or PI’s designee
• Participants with an unstable major psychiatric disorder, as assessed by study clinician, or a diagnosis of alcohol abuse (more than 5 drinks in a 24 hour period) or substance dependence within the past 1 year (as determined by a standard psychiatric interview) will be excluded unless otherwise approved by the PI or PI’s designee
• Participants with an Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (IDS) score > 32 or IDS #18 score 2 >= will be referred to Dr. Andrew Miller
• Participants with uncontrolled or chronic pain, a score greater than 4 on the standard pain scale, will be excluded unless otherwise approved by the principal investigator or PI’s designee
• Participants taking drugs known to affect the immune system (e.g. glucocorticoids, methotrexate, sulfasalazine and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents) will also be excluded, unless otherwise approved by the principal investigator or PI’s designee
• Women who are pregnant or nursing a child may not take part in this study; subjects of childbearing ability must agree, with the study doctor, on a method of birth control to use throughout the study; subjects who think they have gotten pregnant during the study must notify the study doctor immediately; pregnant women will be taken out of the study
• Patients using over the counter supplements or other natural products within one week of treatment, excluding vitamins and calcium supplementation, or at the discretion of the enrolling physician, will be excluded
• Patients who have evidence of infection as determined by history, physical exam or laboratory testing (complete blood count and urinalysis) at baseline will be excluded unless otherwise approved by the PI or PI’s designee
• Patients with anemia (hemoglobin [HEM] < 10 g/dl) at baseline will be excluded unless otherwise approved by the PI or PI’s designee
• In addition, patients who develop evidence of infection (as determined by history, physical exam or laboratory testing) during the study will be discontinued from the study unless otherwise approved by the PI or PI’s designee
• Patients will be asked to refrain from having more than one alcoholic beverage per day