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 it 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. This review focuses on the various aspects of
curcumin as a potential
drug for
cancer treatment and its implications in a variety of
biological and cellular processes vis-à-vis its mechanism of action.