Planta Med 2016; 82(S 01): S1-S381
DOI: 10.1055/s-0036-1596096
Abstracts
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Curcumin: from biochemical promises to clinical development

P Morazzoni
1   Indena SpA R&D, Milano, Italy
,
A Riva
1   Indena SpA R&D, Milano, Italy
,
G Petrangolini
1   Indena SpA R&D, Milano, Italy
,
P Allegrini
1   Indena SpA R&D, Milano, Italy
,
G Appendino
2   University of Eastern Piedmont, 28100 Novara, Italy
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
14 December 2016 (online)

 

Dietary components, including those contained in edible plants, have received increasing credit as potential co-factor in positively modulating intermediate risk factors of chronic-degenerative pathologies (CDP), which represent the main causes of death in most developed countries [1]. In this context curcumin, the major constituent of the rhizome turmeric (Curcuma longa L.), emerged in the last years as a highly pleiotropic compound provided with the capacity to modulate multiple signaling processes of the inflammatory cascade, the recognized common soil for CDP and additional disorders widely afflicting a relevant percentage of the population worldwide [2,3].

Despite the elevated number of in vitro and in vivo publications depicting the potential beneficial effects of curcumin, the clinical utilization of this product has been hampered by its very low oral bioavailability due to poor absorbability, very high presystemic metabolism and rapid clearance [4].

With the aim to overcome these gaps, several attempts have been proposed in recent years but only a few formulative approaches have reached the clinical testing level [5,6]. In this context, the lecithin-formulated highly standardized extract has shown a convincing number of pre-clinical and clinical responses starting from a creditable human pharmacokinetic study [7]. Data will be presented focusing in particular on the industrial production quality aspect and the wide spectrum of clinical studies performed in a number of inflammatory-based disorders. Further potential clinical applications will also be discussed to fully exploit the curcumin health benefits treasure.

References:

[1] Jones DS, Podolsky SH, Greene JA. The burden of disease and the changing task of medicine. N Engl J Med 2012; 366: 2333 – 2338

[2] Aggarwal BB, Sung B. Pharmacological basis for the role of curcumin in chronic diseases: and age-old spice with modern targets. Trends Pharmacol Sci 2009; 30: 85 – 94

[3] Nabavi SF, Thiagarajan R, Rastrelli L, Daglia M, Sobarzo-Sánchez E, Alinezhad H, Nabavi SM. Curcumin: a natural product for diabetes and its complications. Curr Top Med Chem 2015; 15: 2445 – 2455

[4] Prasad S, Tyagi AK, Aggarwal BB. Recent developments in delivery, bioavailability, absorption and metabolism of curcumin: the golden pigment from golden spice. Cancer Res Treat 2014: 46: 2 – 18

[5] Kurita T, Makino Y. Novel curcumin oral delivery systems. Anticancer Res 2013; 33: 2807 – 2821

[6] Jantarat C. Bioavailability enhancement techniques of herbal medicine: a case example of curcumin. Int J Pharmacy Pharm Sci 2013; 5 Suppl 1: 493 – 500, 2013;

[7] Cuomo J, Appendino G, Dern AS, Schneider E, McKinnon TP, Brown MJ, Togni S, Dixon BM. Comparative absorption of a standardized curcuminoid mixture and its lecithin formulation. J Nat Prod 2011; 74: 664 – 669