New insights into therapeutic activity and anticancer properties of curcumin

Abstract

Natural compounds obtained from plants are capable of garnering considerable attention from the scientific community, primarily due to their ability to check and prevent the onset and progress of cancer. These natural compounds are primarily used due to their nontoxic nature and the fewer side effects they cause compared to chemotherapeutic drugs. Furthermore, such natural products perform even better when given as an adjuvant along with traditional chemotherapeutic drugs, thereby enhancing the potential of chemotherapeutics and simultaneously reducing their undesired side effects. Curcumin, a naturally occurring polyphenol compound found in the plant Curcuma longa, is used as an Indian spice. It regulates not only the various pathways of the immune system, cell cycle checkpoints, apoptosis, and antioxidant response but also numerous intracellular targets, including pathways and protein molecules controlling tumor progression. Many recent studies conducted by major research groups around the globe suggest the use of curcumin as a chemopreventive adjuvant molecule to maximize and minimize the desired effects and side effects of chemotherapeutic drugs. However, low bioavailability of a curcumin molecule is the primary challenge encountered in adjuvant therapy. This review explores different therapeutic interactions of curcumin along with its targeted pathways and molecules that are involved in the regulation of onset and progression of different types of cancers, cancer treatment, and the strategies to overcome bioavailability issues and new targets of curcumin in the ever-growing field of cancer.

Curcumin reduces inflammation in knee osteoarthritis rats through blocking TLR4 /MyD88/NF‐κB signal pathway

“…It has many biological activities, such as antiinflammatory, antioxidant, anticell proliferation, and antiapoptosis; and has wide sources, low toxicity, and few adverse reactions. Curcumin has been widely used in the treatment of many diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune diseases, tumors, and so forth (Kerkhof et al, 2011;Mabey & Honsawek, 2015;Panda, Chakraborty, Sarkar, Khan, & Sa, 2017;Qin et al, 2017;Thota, Acharya, Abbott, & Garg, 2016). Several researches suggested that curcumin has protective effects on OA, mainly due to its antioxidant, antiinflammatory effects (Henrotin, Priem, & Mobasheri, 2013;Onakpoya, Spencer, Perera, & Heneghan, 2017).…”

Targeting cancer stem cells with dietary phytochemical - Repositioned drug combinations

“…Another widely studied anti-cancer property of curcumin is CSCtargeting [38][39][40][41][42]. (See Table 2 for select cellular targets of phytochemicals and drugs in CSCs.)…”

“…The bioavailability issue has been addressed with enhancing compounds, such as piperine from the spice black pepper (Piper nigrum), which amplifies the effect of phytochemicals (including curcumin). Bioavailability can be aided by formulations and special delivery systems, such as nanoparticles for curcumin and micelles for niclosamide [38,[135][136][137]. Curcumin is an example which we managed to devise a measure to enhance bioavailability.…”

Novel Therapeutic Strategies for Solid Tumor Based on Body’s Intrinsic Antitumor Immune System

“…It considers the blood stasis as the major etiology of tumorigenesis, and one major approach for tumor treatment is to promote blood circulation and dissipate blood stasis, thus improving local hypoxia. For example, flavonoid as one component of traditional Chinese medicine is a powerful antioxidant that may antagonize local oxidative stress of tumor cells [82,83].…”