Shandong Provincial Research Center for Bioinformatic Engineering and Technique, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo 255049, PR China.
Trends Mol Med. 2012 Mar;18(3):138-44. doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2012.01.004. Epub 2012 Mar 1.
The natural product curcumin has gained considerable attention in recent years for its multiple pharmacological activities, but more efforts are needed to understand how curcumin can have these pharmacological effects considering its low bioavailability. In addition, it is unclear how curcumin exerts inhibitory effects against numerous enzymes, especially those that cannot accommodate curcumin within recognized binding pockets. By analyzing the similarities between the biological activities of curcumin and its degradation products against diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and cancer, as well as the preferential inhibition of some enzymes by degradation products, it appears that the bioactive degradation products may contribute to the pharmacological effects of curcumin. This possibility should be given full attention when elucidating the pharmacology of this promising natural product for various diseases.
天然产物姜黄素近年来因其多种药理活性而受到广泛关注，但考虑到其生物利用度低，仍需要进一步研究姜黄素如何产生这些药理作用。此外，目前尚不清楚姜黄素如何对众多酶产生抑制作用，尤其是那些不能将姜黄素容纳在公认的结合口袋内的酶。通过分析姜黄素及其降解产物在阿尔茨海默病和癌症等疾病方面的生物活性之间的相似性，以及某些酶被降解产物优先抑制的情况，似乎表明生物活性降解产物可能有助于姜黄素的药理作用。在阐明姜黄素对各种疾病的药理学作用时，应该充分考虑到这种可能性。
