Turmeric may contain well over a hundred chemical species, most of these originating from the essential oil part of turmeric. A complete analysis of all these constituents has not so far been undertaken. However, the major and characteristic component of turmeric is the curcumin.
Curcumin exists as a mixture of the keto- and enol tautomeric forms, their relative composition dependent on the pH of the medium. |
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| Keto Form of Curcumin |
Enol Form of Curcumin |
Research on curcumin is exploding with more than 2000 reports presently available. This is because of an extremely wide array of biological activities exhibited by the molecule. Curcumin acts on multiple targets and at multiple levels. The number of transcription factors and signaling pathways modulated by curcumin is, indeed, bewildering1,2. Curcumin has demonstrated benefit for most, if not all, chronic diseases afflicting mankind.
It is an antioxidant that can effectively scavenge oxygen- and nitrogen free radicals.
It is a complete anti-inflammatory modulating all the agents involved in the complex process of inflammation, including cytokines, chemokines, adhesion molecules, growth factors and transcription factors such as NF-KB and AP-1, and a large number of kinases, notably the MAP kinases p38 and JNK. It is an inhibitor of histone acetyltransferases3,4 thereby preventing the transcription of inflammatory genes.
In heart disease, curcumin can affect all the steps believed to be involved in the pathologic process of atherosclerosis. In diabetes, it can potentially reverse insulin resistance, the first clinically relevant stage of the disease. Further, it can sensitize insulin by inducing the transcription factor PPARy, similar to the thiazolidinediones currently used for this purpose.
Curcumin can be shown to be the only agent who can effectively address all the multiple factors involved in Alzheimer’s disease and rheumatoid arthritis. As an anticancer agent, it is a chemo preventive, affects cell cycle progression and transformation, causes apoptosis of malignant cells by more than one mechanism, prevents angiogenesis and metastasis, and is effective even against drug-resistant cancers. Whereas the present day cancer drugs are specific for one type of cancer, curcumin has been shown in preclinical studies to be effective against virtually all forms of human cancers. While common chemotherapeutic agents cause serious side effects, curcumin produces none. While the common anticancer drugs are Immuno-suppressors, curcumin is an immuno-restorer5,6. |
| 1 |
Aggarwal BB, Shishodia S, Molecular targets of dietary agents for prevention and therapy of cancer, Biochem Pharmacol, 2006, 71:1397-1421. |
| 2 |
Aggarwal BB, Sundaram C, Malani N, Ichikawa H, Curcumin: the Indian solid gold, Adv Exp Med Biol, 2007, 595:1-75. |
| 3 |
Balasubramanyam K, Varier RA, Altaf M, et al. Curcumin, a novel p300/CREB-binding protein-specific inhibitor of acetyl transferase, repress the acetylation of histone/nonhistone proteins and histone acetyltransferase-dependent chromatin transcription, J Biol Chem, 2004,279:51163-71 |
| 4 |
Marcu MG, Jung YJ, Lee S, et al. Curcumin is an inhibitor of p300 histone acetyltransferase, Med Chem, 2006, 2:169-74. |
| 5 |
Jagetia GC, Aggarwal BB, “Spicing up” the immune system by curcumin, J Clin Immunol, 2007, 27:19-35. |
| 6 |
Bhattacharyya S, Mandal D, Sen GS, et al. Tumor-induced oxidative stress perturbs nuclear factor-kappaB activity-augmenting tumor necrosis factor-alpha-mediated T-cell death: protection by curcumin, Cancer Res, 2007, 67:362-70. |
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