Curcumin has been reported to possess various biological and pharmacological activities, including antioxidative (Dutta Sabari et al. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters 15 (2005) 2738-2744; Deng S. L. et al. Food Chemistry 98 (2006) 112-119; Waylon M. Weber, Lucy A. Hunsaker, Steve F. Abcouwer, Lorraine M. Deck, and David L. Vander Jagt, Bioorg. Med. Chem. 13 (2005) 3811-3820; Venkateswarlu S. et al. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry 13 (2005) 6374-6380; Daniel S. et al. J. of Inorganic Biochemistry 98 (2004) 266-275; Priyadarsini K. I. Et al. Free Radical Biology and Medicine, 35 (2003) 475-484), anti-inflammatory (Selvam C. et al. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters 15 (2005) 1793-1797; Chainani-Wu, N. J. of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 9 (2003) 161-168), anti-IIIV-1 integrase (Di Santo R. et al. IL Fannaco 60 (2005) 409-417; Mazumder A. et al. Biochemical Pharmacology, 49 (1995) 1165-1170), anti-angiogenic and anti- cancer  (Lin L. et al. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry 14 (2006) 2527-2534; Robinson T. P. et al. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry 13 (2005) 4007-4013; Woo H. B. et al. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters 15 (2005) 3782-3786; Adams B. K. et al. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry 12 (2004) 3871-3883). These putative cancer  preventive and therapeutic properties of curcumin have been considered to be associated with its antioxidant and anti-NFKB properties (Deng S. L. et al. Food Chemistry 98 (2006) 112-119; Sabari et al. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters 15 (2005) 2738-2744; Kelly M. R. et al. Mutation Research 485 (2001) 309-318) since the oxidative damage of DNA, lipid layer and cell membrane are believed to be associated with a variety of chronic health problems, such as cancer, inflammatory, neurodegenerative diseases and aging. It is also believed that the antioxidant activity of curcumin is responsible for its free radical scavenging ability.

Structurally, both of curcumin's hydroxyl groups attached to the aromatic rings (A and C parts) and the methylene CH 2 group of the ?-1,3-diketone moiety (B part) are responsible for the formation of free radicals and protection of DNA, RNA, lipid and protein molecules. (Jovanovic S. V. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2001, 123, 3064-3068; Priyadarsini K. I. et al. Free Rad. Biol. Med. 2003, 35, 475).

It is understood that when the agent is targeted to the androgen or androgen receptor gene, tissue specific targeting can be useful to direct treatment or inhibition to a particular tissue and limit the anti-androgen or anti-androgen effect to the tissue where a cancer or uncontrolled cellular proliferation is present. It is understood that there are many ways known in the art to specifically target a tissue. For example, the anti-androgen or anti-androgen receptor agent can be under the control of a tissue specific promoter that limits expression to the particular tissue. Also disclosed would be expressing the anti-androgen or anti-androgen receptor agent in a vector that is targeted specifically to a tissue. Thus, for example, disclosed herein are methods of inhibiting uncontrolled cellular proliferation in bladder tissue or treating bladder cancer in a subject wherein the anti-androgen or anti-androgen receptor agent is operably linked to a bladder specific promoter such as, for example, the uroplakin II promoter. It is further understood that the agent can be provided in the context of a vector. Thus, disclosed herein are methods of inhibiting uncontrolled cellular proliferation or treating cancer in a subject comprising administering to the subject a vector comprising an agent that inhibits one or more activities of androgen or the androgen receptor (AR) operably linked to a bladder specific promoter. It is further understood that any of the disclosed methods and agents can be combined with any of the other methods or agents disclosed herein. Thus, for example, disclosed herein are methods of inhibiting uncontrolled cellular proliferation or treating cancer comprising administering to a subject a vector comprising an agent that inhibits one or more activities of androgen or AR, and further comprising administering to the subject an anti-androgen or anti-AR agent such as hydroxyflutamide (HF), casodex, or ASC-J9. Thus, disclosed herein are methods of treating a bladder cancer comprising administering to a subject a vector encoding an anti-AR siRNA and ASC-J9.

The disclosed compositions can be used to treat any disease where uncontrolled cellular proliferation occurs such as cancers. A non-limiting list of different types of cancers is as follows: lymphomas (Hodgkins and non-Hodgkins), leukemias, carcinomas, carcinomas of solid tissues, squamous cell carcinomas, adenocarcinomas, sarcomas, gliomas, high grade gliomas, blastomas, neuroblastomas, plasmacytomas, histiocytomas, melanomas, adenomas, hypoxic tumours, myclomas, AIDS-related lymphomas or sarcomas, metastatic cancers, or cancers in general.