Antineoplastic potential of curcumin (cooperative study in Bulgaria and Germany)

The unfavorable safety of existing anticancer medications and the issue of multidrug resistance have fuelled the search for novel plant compounds as potential antineoplastic agents. One of the used approaches for identifying perspective candidates is based on ethnopharmacology. Curcumin is the yellow pigment of curry and has being employed in traditional Indian medicine. Within the EU it has the status of food ingredient (E100) and remains in many food additives. It is isolated from Curcuma longa L. and has been reported as NF-κB inhibitor and apoptosis inducer with antioxidant, cholesterol lowering, anti-inflammatory, anti-parasitic, antibacterial and antitumor potential. Curcumin has been shown to exert a wide spectrum of pleiotropic activities including antitumor effects and protection of the normal bone marrow. It possesses antineoplastic activity in various malignant cell lines in vitro, such as cutaneous T cell lymphoma, acute myeloid leukemia and urinary bladder cancer cells. In lymphoma and leukemia cell lines curcumin induces apoptosis as evidenced by caspase activation, PARP cleavage and oligonucleosomal DNA fragmentation. Expression of the myeloid marker CD13 (aminopeptidase N) is associated with faster apoptosis induction. In addition, curcumin causes concentration-dependent glutathione level increase. Application of curcumin in vivo resulted in protection against cisplatin-induced chromosomal aberrations (anticlastogenic effect). This finding reveals curcumin as preferable partner for combinations with antineoplastic agents in order to potentiate their activity and ameliorate the adverse effects. There is a clear need for new curcumin formulations because of its low bioavailability after oral intake. Cutaneous and intravesical curcumin applications remain a possibility for successful clinical use of curcumin.