Curcumin, a yellow polyphenol extracted from the rhizome of turmeric
(Curcuma longa), has potent anti-cancer properties as demonstrated in a
plethora of human cancer cell line and animal carcinogenesis models.
Nevertheless, widespread clinical application of this relatively efficacious
agent in cancer and other diseases has been limited due to poor aqueous
solubility, and consequently, minimal systemic bioavailability.
Nanoparticle-based drug delivery approaches have the potential for rendering
hydrophobic agents like curcumin dispersible in aqueous media, thus
circumventing the pitfalls of poor solubility.
Nanocurcumin, unlike free curcumin, is readily dispersed in aqueous media.
Nanocurcumin demonstrates comparable in vitro therapeutic efficacy to free
curcumin against a panel of human pancreatic cancer cell lines, as assessed
by cell viability and clonogenicity assays in soft agar. Further,
nanocurcumin's mechanisms of action on pancreatic cancer cells mirror that
of free curcumin, including induction of cellular apoptosis, blockade of
nuclear factor kappa B (NFkappaB) activation, and downregulation of steady
state levels of multiple pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-8, and
TNFalpha).
Conclusions: Nanocurcumin provides an opportunity to expand the clinical
repertoire of this efficacious agent by enabling ready aqueous dispersion.
Future studies utilizing nanocurcumin are warranted in pre-clinical in vivo
models of cancer and other diseases that might benefit from the effects of
curcumin.
