Anticancer effects of curcumin

Studies during the past century have shown the anticancer effect of curcumin against cancers of various anatomical sites. The preclinical anticancer potential of curcumin has been established both in vitro and in vivo, which lead to the clinical trials with this promising molecule. Below is a description of the studies, that have evaluated the preclinical and clinical anticancer activity of curcumin. 

The anticancer effect of curcumin in murine thymoma cells was found to be due to the blocking of IL-1 signaling by the inhibition of the recruitment of the IL-1 receptor-associated kinase (IRAK) [Jurrmann et al., 2005]. A recent study showed that curcumin could prevent tumor-induced thymic atrophy in thymic T cells, leading to the neutralization of tumor-induced oxidative stress and the restoration of NF-kB activity and the re-education of the TNF-a signaling pathway, resulting in thymic protection [Bhattacharyya et al., 2007]. 

Several in vivo studies have established the chemopreventive as well as anticancer effect of curcumin against a variety of cancers, as summarized in... 

Sun CY, Liu XY, Chen Y, Liu F, Wang Y. 2004a. Experimental study on anticancer effect of curcumin on Raji cells in vitro. Zhongguo Zhong Xi Yi Jie He Za Zhi 24 1003-1006. 

Several reports have described the anticancer activity of curcumin in a variety of cancer cell lines. In vitro studies have established the activity for curcumin against breast, gastric, hepatic, pancreatic, colorectal, urinary bladder, kidney, prostate, cervical, ovarian, uterine, lung, oral, thymic, and skin cancers. Besides these cancer types, curcumin has shown in vitro therapeutic efficacy against hematological cancers including leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. One of our early studies established that the antiproliferative effect of curcumin in human breast cancer cell lines, including hormone-dependent, hormone-independent,... 

Mehta, K., Pantazis, P., McQueen, T., and Aggarwal, B.B., Antiprohferation effect of curcumin (diferuloyhnethane) against human breast tumor cell lines. Anticancer Drugs, 8, 470, 1997. 

Elattar, T.M. and Virji, A.S., The inhibitory effect of curcumin, genistein, quercetin and cisplatin on the growth of oral cancer cells in vitro, Anticancer Res., 20, 1733, 2000. 

Singh S, Khar A. Biological effects of curcumin and its role in cancer chemoprevention and therapy. Anticancer Agents Med. Chem. 2006 6 259-270. 

The amphiphilic molecules constituting the micelles can be surfactants, like sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) for the solubilization of artemisinin and curcumin or for the delivery of polyphe-nolic fractions from Hamamelis virginianaP The micelles can also be formed of synthetic block copolymers. For example, copolymers of caprolactone 2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl ester units with poly(meth)acrylic acid side chains have been self-assembled in micelles of quercetin associated with indomethacin for the treatment of inflammatory diseases (Figure 36.10). Resveratrol has been loaded into PCL-PEG micelles for its protective effect against oxidative stress. An aqueous formulation of luteolin has been developed with the same PCL-PEG micelles, with potential anticancer effect. ... 

When the surface of liposomes is functionalized with antibodies, the resulting immunoliposomes convey most of the encapsulated molecules to specific targeted cells, like cancer cells. The side effects of the anticancer drugs are thus reduced, and the action of the drug is potentialized. Recently, HER2-targeted immunoliposomes improved the bioavailability and selectivity of curcumin and res-veratrol, with a dramatic effect on the proliferation of human breast cancer cell lines. " ... 

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