Curcumin: a bioactive compound with molecular targets for human malignancies.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the world and one of the major public health problems. Curcumin has anticancer activity including inducing apoptosis and inhibiting proliferation and invasion of tumours by suppressing a variety of cellular signalling pathways. It also possesses anti-tumour activity on different human cancers such as breast cancer, lung cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, prostate cancer, and brain tumours. In vitro and in vivo trails, curcumin inhibits tumour development and metastasis by inhibiting many pathways that regulate signalling in malignant cells, including Ras, p53, extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK), Wnt-protein kinase B (Akt), MAPKs, and PI3K. Curcumin can also inhibit IKK, EGFR, -catenin, cyclin D1, tumour necrosis factor (TNF), and anti-apoptotic genes such as Bcl-X and Bcl-2 along with downregulating nuclear transcription factors like NF-κB, which reduces the formation of pro-inflammatory cytokines like chemokines, TNF-, Interleukins and IL-1, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, IL-12. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]