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Department
of Radiation Oncology & Biology, University of Oxford, Churchill Hospital,
UK.
Curcumin
possesses wide-ranging anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties.
Many of these biological activities can be attributed to its potent antioxidant
capacity at neutral and acidic pH, its inhibition of cell signaling pathways
at multiple levels, its diverse effects on cellular enzymes, and its effects
on cell adhesion and angiogenesis. In particular, curcumin's ability to
alter gene transcription and induce apoptosis in preclinical models advocates
its potential utility in cancer chemoprevention and chemotherapy. With
regard to considerable public and scientific interest in the use of phytochemicals
derived from dietary components to combat or prevent
human cancer, curcumin is currently a leading agent.
University
of Wisconsin, School of Pharmacy, Madison, WI 53705-2222, USA
The most practical approach
to reduce the morbidity and mortality of cancer is to delay the process
of carcinogenesis through the use of chemopreventive agents. This necessitates
that safer compounds, especially those derived from natural sources must
be critically examined for chemoprevention. A spice common to India and
the surrounding regions, is turmeric, derived from the rhizome of Curcuma
longa. Pre-clinical studies in a variety of cancer
cell lines including breast, cervical, colon, gastric, hepatic, leukemia,
oral epithelial, ovarian, pancreatic, and prostate have consistently shown
that curcumin possesses anti-cancer activity in vitro and in pre-clinical
animal models. The robust activity of curcumin in colorectal
cancer has led to five phase I clinical trials being completed showing
the safety and tolerability of curcumin in colorectal cancer patients.
The success of these trials has led to the development of phase II trials
that are currently enrolling patients. Overwhelming
in vitro evidence and completed clinical trials suggests that curcumin
may prove to be useful for the chemoprevention of colon cancer in humans
Department
of Surgery, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
Turmeric, the bright yellow
spice extracted from the tuberous rhizome of the plant Curcuma longa, has
been used in traditional Indian and Chinese systems of medicine for centuries
to treat a variety of ailments. Recent evidence that curcumin exhibits
strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities and modulates the expression
of transcription factors, cell cycle proteins, and signal transducing kinases
has prompted the mechanism-based studies on the potential
of curcumin to primarily prevent and treat cancer.
Cullman
Laboratory for Cancer Research, USA
Large bowel cancer is one
of the most common human malignancies in western countries, including North
America. Several epidemiological studies have detected decreases
in the risk of colorectal cancer in individuals who regularly use Curcumin.
Clinical
trials with curcumin in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis have
demonstrated that treatment with such NSAIDs causes regression of pre-existing
adenomas. Preclinical efficacy studies using realistic laboratory animal
models have provided scientifically sound evidence as to how NSAIDs
like curcumin act to retard, block, and reverse colonic carcinogenesis
Centre
for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Uppal Road, Hyderabad, India
Curcumin,
a natural component of the rhizome of curcuma longa has emerged as one
of the most powerful chemopreventive and anticancer agents.
Its biological effects range from antioxidant, anti-inflammatory to inhibition
of angiogenesis and is also shown to possess specific antitumoral activity.
The molecular mechanism of its varied cellular effects has been studied
in some details and it has been shown to have multiple targets and interacting
macromolecules within the cell. Curcumin has been shown to possess anti-angiogenic
properties and the angioinhibitory effects of curcumin manifest due to
down regulation of proangiogenic genes such as VEGF and angiopoitin and
a decrease in migration and invasion of endothelial cells. One of the important
factors implicated in chemoresistance and induced chemosensitivity is NFkB
and curcumin has been shown to down regulate NFkB and inhibit IKB kinase
thereby suppressing proliferation and inducing apoptosis. Cell
lines that are resistant to certain apoptotic inducers and radiation become
susceptible to apoptosis when treated in conjunction with curcumin. Besides
this curcumin can also act as a chemopreventive agent in cancers of colon,
stomach and skin by suppressing colonic aberrant crypt foci formation and
DNA adduct formation
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used by 300
million worldwide
