Potential Role of Curcumin Against Biofilm‐Producing Organisms on the Skin: A Review

Abstract

Turmeric root (Curcuma longa) is predominantly used as a spice, but has also long been known to possess antimicrobial, analgesic, antiinflammatory, and anticancer properties. One predominant group of active compounds in turmeric are curcuminoids, namely bright yellow-pigmented curcumin. While modern science has yet to fully investigate the therapeutic claims of turmeric and its derivatives, results have proven promising in decreasing pain and inflammation in arthritis, improving insulin sensitivity in diabetes, and even curing a variety of infections. The purpose of this review is to discuss the potential for curcumin as an agent against microbial infections, with a special focus on the skin and in the development of bacterial biofilms. Curcumin has demonstrated bactericidal efficacy against a variety of infections when administered with antibiotics in several clinical studies, with consistent antimicrobial activity demonstrated in vitro, as well as in urinary tract infections, gingival infections, and chronic wound infections. Hypothesized mechanisms of action include curcumin's ability to perturb bacterial membranes, disturb protofillament assembly, and even impair bacterial virulence factors. Further investigation is needed to fully understand which organisms are most susceptible to the effects of curcumin and how curcumin can be implemented in dermatology to treat skin conditions such as chronic wounds and acne vulgaris. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Therapeutic effects of curcumin on sepsis and mechanisms of action: A systematic review of preclinical studies

“…Curcumin is widely used in medicine due to medicinal properties, cost-effectiveness, and simple extraction from a turmeric plant that grows in different regions in the world. Recent evidences have shown that curcumin possesses multiple biological activities and pharmacological properties including anti-inflammation (Dhir, 2018), antioxidation (Khanji et al, 2018), anticancer and antiproliferation (Barati, Momtazi-Borojeni, Majeed, & Sahebkar, 2019;Pan, Chen, Baek, & Zhong, 2018), antimicrobial (Marini et al, 2018), and free radical scavenger (Vaughn et al, 2017;Zhong et al, 2016). Some studies have suggested protective effects of curcumin against numerous diseases such as metabolic syndrome (due to improving insulin sensitivity, suppressing adipogenesis, reducing elevated blood pressure and decrease inflammation) (Ghazimoradi et al, 2017), inflammatory bowel disease (inhibit nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B [NF-κB], 5-lipoxygenase, and Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4)) (Singla et al, 2014), rheumatoid arthritis (due to regulating immune response and decrease the expression of cytokines and chemokine, (such as monocyte chemoattractant protein1 (MCP-1)) (Khayyal et al, 2018), cardiovascular disease (due to adjustment of the enzyme related to the metabolism of lipoproteins, decrease inflammation, and oxidative stress) (Li et al, 2019), and sepsis (due to modulate immune responses) (Chen, Lu, et al, 2018).…”

Curcumin promotes burn wound healing in mice by upregulating caveolin‐1 in epidermal stem cells

“…Increasing body of literature supported the effects of curcumin in treating various wound types, and its great therapeutic potential (Mohanty & Sahoo, ; Tejada, Manayi, Daglia, et al, ; Vaughn, Haas, Burney, et al, ). For example, in a rat burn model, curcumin was found to attenuate injury progression as indicated by the proportion of necrotic unburned interspaces (Singer, Taira, Lin, et al, ).…”

Curcumin sensitized the antitumour effects of irradiation in promoting apoptosis of oesophageal squamous-cell carcinoma through NF-κB signalling pathway

“…Curcumin is a phyto‐polyphenolic pigment extracted from turmeric ( Curcuma longa ) . It has been widely used for therapeutic purpose histologically due to the intrinsic anti‐inflammatory, antioxidant and antitumour properties . The extensive investigations and exploitations have characterized the wide‐spectrum anticancer activity of curcumin against variety of human tumours including ovarian, breast, colon and so forth .…”

“…[9,10] It has been widely used for therapeutic purpose histologically due to the intrinsic anti-inflammatory, [11,12] antioxidant [13] and antitumour properties. [14][15][16][17][18][19] The extensive investigations and exploitations have characterized the wide-spectrum anticancer activity of curcumin against variety of human tumours including ovarian, breast, colon and so forth. [20][21][22][23][24][25] The various modes of action have been proposed underlying its therapeutic function in treatment of human cancer, including inhibition of proliferation, induction of cell apoptosis and suppression of angiogenesis.…”