Anticancer and carcinogenic properties of curcumin: Considerations for its clinical development as a cancer chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic agent
- 21 May 2008
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Wiley in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research
- Vol. 52, S103-S127
- https://doi.org/10.1002/mnfr.200700238
Abstract
A growing body of research suggests that curcumin, the major active constituent of the dietary spice turmeric, has potential for the prevention and therapy of cancer. Preclinical data have shown that curcumin can both inhibit the formation of tumors in animal models of carcinogenesis and act on a variety of molecular targets involved in cancer development. In vitro studies have demonstrated that curcumin is an efficient inducer of apoptosis and some degree of selectivity for cancer cells has been observed. Clinical trials have revealed that curcumin is well tolerated and may produce antitumor effects in people with precancerous lesions or who are at a high risk for developing cancer. This seems to indicate that curcumin is a pharmacologically safe agent that may be used in cancer chemoprevention and therapy. Both in vitro and in vivo studies have shown, however, that curcumin may produce toxic and carcinogenic effects under specific conditions. Curcumin may also alter the effectiveness of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. This review article analyzes the in vitro and in vivo cancer‐related activities of curcumin and discusses that they are linked to its known antioxidant and pro‐oxidant properties. Several considerations that may help develop curcumin as an anticancer agent are also discussed.Keywords
This publication has 100 references indexed in Scilit:
- Excessive superoxide anion generation plays a key role in carcinogenesisInternational Journal of Cancer, 2006
- Cyclooxygenase-2 expression and oxidative DNA adducts in murine intestinal adenomas: Modification by dietary curcumin and implications for clinical trialsEuropean Journal Of Cancer, 2006
- Curcumin induces growth-arrest and apoptosis in association with the inhibition of constitutively active JAK–STAT pathway in T cell leukemiaBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 2006
- Curcumin is a potent broad spectrum inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase gene expression in human astroglioma cellsBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 2005
- Curcumin suppresses phorbol ester-induced matrix metalloproteinase-9 expression by inhibiting the PKC to MAPK signaling pathways in human astroglioma cellsBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 2005
- Curcumin: The story so farEuropean Journal Of Cancer, 2005
- Curcumin inhibits interferon-α induced NF-κB and COX-2 in human A549 non-small cell lung cancer cellsBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 2005
- Constitutive activation of transcription factor AP-1 in cervical cancer and suppression of human papillomavirus (HPV) transcription and AP-1 activity in HeLa cells by curcuminInternational Journal of Cancer, 2004
- Synthetic curcumin analogs inhibit activator protein-1 transcription and tumor-induced angiogenesisBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 2004
- Therapeutic potential of curcumin in prostate cancer—IV: Interference with the osteomimetic properties of hormone refractory C4‐2B prostate cancer cellsThe Prostate, 2003