Abstract
Multifaceted Role of a Marvel Golden Molecule, Curcumin: a Review
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Experimental Biochemistry Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center (KAU), Bioactive Natural Products Research Group, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, Production of natural products for industrial application Research Group, (KAU), Saudi Arabia, Microbial Biotechnology Department, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Research division, National Research Center, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt
Correspondence Address:
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Experimental Biochemistry Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center (KAU), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, E-mail: moselhy6@hotmail.com
Curcumin is chemically known as diferuloylmethane, which is an important nutraceutical obtained from the yellow spice Curcuma longa. It has been used traditionally as a folklore medicine in countries like India, China and Thailand for nearly 2000 years without any prior knowledge of the mechanism of action. Cell-based studies and clinical trials that have been reported so far have provided evidence that curcumin could be effectively used as antimicrobial, anticancer, antidiabetic, antiinflammatory, antimalarial and antioxidant. There are more than 9400 articles published on this “magical molecule” till date. Furthermore, nearly 100 clinical trials have been done using curcumin, which demonstrated safety, efficacy and prophylactic activity of curcumin. On the molecular level, curcumin has shown to modulate several crucial and significantly interlinked pathways in rendering an optimistic outcome against life-threatening diseases like cancer, diabetes, lupus nephritis, and other autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases. In this communication, the chemical structure, biological properties and possible molecular targets of curcumin have been reviewed along with some recent developments in drug delivery systems of curcumin.
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