Villegas Isabel, Sánchez-Fidalgo Susana, Alarcón de la Lastra Catalina
Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Seville, Seville, Spain.
Mol Nutr Food Res. 2008 Sep;52(9):1040-61. doi: 10.1002/mnfr.200700280.
Curcumin is a polyphenol derived from Curcuma longa. Over the last few years, a number of studies have provided evidence of its main pharmacological properties including chemosensitizing, radiosensitizing, wound healing activities, antimicrobial, antiviral, antifungical, immunomodulatory, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. More recent data provide interesting insights into the effect of this compound on cancer chemoprevention and chemotherapy. In fact, preclinical studies have shown its ability to inhibit carcinogenesis in various types of cancer including colorectal cancer (CRC). Curcumin has the capacity of interact with multiple molecular targets affecting the multistep process of carcinogenesis. Also, curcumin is able to arrest the cell cycle, to inhibit the inflammatory response and the oxidative stress and to induce apoptosis in cancer cells. Likewise, it has been shown to possess marked antiangiogenic properties. Furthermore, curcumin potentiates the growth inhibitory effect of cyclo-oxygenase (COX)-2 inhibitors and traditional chemotherapy agents implicating another promising therapy regimen in the future treatment of CRC. However, its clinical advance has been hindered by its short biological half-life and low bioavailability after oral administration. This review is intended to provide the reader an update of the bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of curcumin and describes the recently identified molecular pathways responsible of its anticancer potential in CRC.
姜黄素是一种从姜黄中提取的多酚。在过去几年中，大量研究证实了其主要药理特性，包括化学增敏、放射增敏、伤口愈合活性、抗菌、抗病毒、抗真菌、免疫调节、抗氧化和抗炎作用。最近的数据为该化合物在癌症化学预防和化疗方面的作用提供了有趣的见解。事实上，临床前研究表明它能够抑制包括结直肠癌（CRC）在内的多种癌症的致癌作用。姜黄素能够与多个分子靶点相互作用，影响致癌作用的多步骤过程。此外，姜黄素能够使细胞周期停滞，抑制炎症反应和氧化应激，并诱导癌细胞凋亡。同样，它已被证明具有显著的抗血管生成特性。此外，姜黄素增强了环氧化酶（COX）-2抑制剂和传统化疗药物的生长抑制作用，这意味着在未来结直肠癌治疗中可能会有另一种有前景的治疗方案。然而，其临床应用进展受到其较短的生物半衰期和口服给药后较低的生物利用度的阻碍。本综述旨在为读者提供姜黄素生物利用度和药代动力学的最新信息，并描述最近确定的其在结直肠癌中抗癌潜力的分子途径。
