Demethoxycurcumin: A naturally occurring curcumin analogue for treating non‐cancerous diseases

Abstract

Turmeric extracts contain three primary compounds, which are commonly referred to as curcuminoids. They are curcumin, demethoxycurcumin (DMC), and bisdemethoxycurcumin. While curcumin has been the most extensively studied of the curcuminoids, it suffers from low overall oral bioavailability due to extremely low absorption as a result of low water solubility and instability at acidic pH, as well as rapid metabolism and clearance from the body. However, DMC, which lacks the methoxy group on the benzene ring of the parent structure, has much greater chemical stability at physiological pH and has been recently reported to exhibit antitumor properties. However, the treatment of noncancerous diseases with DMC has not been comprehensively reviewed. Therefore, here we evaluate published scientific literature on the therapeutic properties of DMC. The beneficial pharmacological actions of DMC include anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, antihypertensive, antimalarial, antimicrobial, antifungal, and vasodilatory properties. In addition, DMC's ability to ameliorate the effects of free radicals and an environment characterized by oxidative stress caused by the accumulation of advanced glycation end-products associated with diabetic nephropathy, as well as DMC's capacity to inhibit the migration and proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells following balloon angioplasty are also addressed. This review collates the available literature regarding the therapeutic possibilities of DMC in noncancerous conditions.

Dual Targeting of the p38 MAPK-HO-1 Axis and cIAP1/XIAP by Demethoxycurcumin Triggers Caspase-Mediated Apoptotic Cell Death in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cells

“…Accumulating evidence has shown that DMC is an more effective and stable curcuminoid than CUR or BDMC in cancer treatment of prostate, lung, and brain tumors [24,31,32] and other diseases [33]. In the present study, we observed that DMC exhibited strong oncostatic effects on OSCC cells respectively derived from primary and metastatic sites, including G 2 /M cell-cycle arrest and apoptotic cell death.…”

The Effectiveness of Turmeric (Curcuma domestica) in Decreasing The Risk of Atherosclerosis

“…Kurkuminoid yang terdapat pada rimpang kunyit memiliki manfaat sebagai antiinflamasi dan antioksidan sehingga dapat dijadikan terapi alternatif pada aterosklerosis. (10,11). Berdasarkan latar belakang tersebut maka peneliti tertarik menganalisis efektivitas rimpang kunyit terhadap penurunan risiko aterosklerosis.…”

A Promising Anticancer Agent Dimethoxycurcumin: Aspects of Pharmacokinetics, Efficacy, Mechanism, and Nanoformulation for Drug Delivery

“…Resultantly, DiMC usually displays various pharmacological activities that are mostly maintained and even more improved in contrast to curcumin, which mainly includes anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive, neuroprotective, nephroprotective, and anticancer effects that are primarily attributed to its stability and potent anti-oxidant and free radical scavenger properties ( Karimian et al, 2017 ). Much attention has lately been given to DiMC due to its potency against various cancer cell lines in many cases, such as the ability to serve as an androgen receptor antagonist in human prostate cancer cells in vivo ( Ramkumar et al, 2017 ; Hatamipour et al, 2018 ; Hatamipour et al, 2019 ). Recent research has further revealed the miraculous power of DiMC as an anticancer agent via special actions on various molecular targets, including inactivation of enzymes, regulation of P-glycoprotein activity, inducing apoptosis and promoting autophagy of cancer cells, inhibiting migration, and DNA transcription ( Munigunti et al, 2014 ; Yoon et al, 2014 ).…”