Curcumin is a phenolic chemical obtained from the turmeric plant belonging to the Zingiberaceae family. It is also known as Curcuma longa. This natural herb is commonly used as a spice and food colouring ingredient. It has many biological properties, including anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antioxidant, anticancer, and antidiabetic properties. Curcumin is a prospective medicine for treating human ailments such as infections, neurological diseases, and diabetes. It decreases cancer cell proliferation and metastasis while increasing cell cycle arrest or death in specific cancer cells. Despite these advantages, curcumin’s therapeutic use in clinical medicine and bioavailability is less due to its low solubility and instability in water, poor bioavailability, and poor cellular absorption.
These constraints limit curcumin’s clinical applicability. Curcumin structural modification by the manufacture of curcumin-based derivatives is a potential method that could overcome these constraints. Novel curcumin derivatives can address curcumin’s limitations while improving overall efficacy and reducing drug resistance.
Anticancer and anti-inflammatory properties
Curcumin produces molecules with numerous biological actions. Curcumin produces molecules with numerous biological actions. It can treat disorders like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases. Curcumin’s physicochemical and pharmacokinetic qualities are improved by changing its chemical structure. Because of the high level of methoxylation, the unsaturation of the diketone moiety, and the low level of hydrogenation, certain additional derivatives have exhibited superior anticancer and anti-inflammatory properties compared to curcumins. A comparison between the curcumin component and its analogues shows intense antioxidant activity.
Furthermore, when compared to normal cells, curcumin derivatives had enhanced cytotoxicity against various tumour cell types. Curcumin and its derivatives are anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antioxidant agents in healthcare. According to reports, curcumin compounds with improved biological activity have been synthesized for better treatment efficacy.
Effective at various stages of cancer growth
Clinical experiments have demonstrated that increasing the overall potential activity of medicines like curcumin can improve their biological activity. According to researchers, curcumin has anti-cancer capabilities due to its effect on various biological processes involved in mutagenesis, oncogene expression, carcinogenesis, cell cycle regulation, apoptosis, and metastasis. And also can be effective at different stages of cancer growth. As a result, substantial efforts have been directed to synthesise novel curcumin derivatives. It will alleviate the limits and increase the anti-cancer properties of curcumins. Curcumin’s anti-cancer effect in vivo and in vitro demonstrated that it could inhibit carcinogenesis and tumour cell proliferation in various tumour cell types. Also, curcumin derivatives were found to have anti-cancer properties in prostate, colon, and breast cancer cell lines.
According to available data, colon cancer is the third most treated cancer in males and the second most treated cancer in females worldwide. Colon cancer is caused by a well-defined hereditary condition in approximately 5% of patients. Colon cancer is more likely in patients with other chronic conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), ulcerative colitis, and Crohn’s disease. Other risk factors include type 2 diabetes, obesity, physical inactivity, alcohol consumption, and smoking. Diets poor in fruits, vegetables, and fibre have been related to an increased risk of colon cancer.
Chemotherapy is one of the most common treatment options for metastatic disease. Individuals diagnosed with colon cancer, on the other hand, undergo surgical removal of malignant tissue followed by chemotherapy, and more than half of those patients experience relapse. Furthermore, the practical application of these chemotherapeutic drugs has substantial adverse effects, such as toxicity and cancer cell resistance development. Because traditional treatments, including radiation, chemotherapy, and surgical resection, are frequently insufficient, the development of alternative therapeutic approaches has expanded.
Beneficial in chemo-resistant colon cancer
Many natural chemicals, such as curcumin and its derivatives, have specific biological and pharmacological actions. These derivatives make them an effective medicine for tumour treatment. Curcumin’s anti-cancer properties include inducing apoptosis and inhibiting cancer growth in cultivated tumour tissue in vitro. Curcumins and their derivatives have been proven beneficial in chemo-resistant colon cancer cell targeting. Curcumin-modified derivatives were also produced to improve stability.
Furthermore, curcumin has been shown to inhibit cancer in vivo. It also impacts adhesion molecules, transcription factors, growth regulators, cellular signalling molecules, and angiogenesis regulators, among other things. Curcumin has shown to have promise in vitro chemotherapeutic and chemopreventive properties in a variety of malignancies.
Inhibits the growth of colon cancer cells
Molecular targets of curcumin derivatives in vivo and in vitro assay results showed that curcumin derivatives exhibited enhanced antiproliferative effects against colon cancer cell lines when compared to curcumin alone. This antiproliferative effect induces cell cycle arrest, necrosis and apoptosis in human colon cancer. These derivatives can also inhibit the growth of colon cancer cells and, as a result, can block the cell cycle progression. These derivatives inhibit the aberrant crypt foci (ACF) development and cell proliferation.
