‘Turmeric’ (Curcuma longa L.) is an important spice found almost in every
culinary preparation of Asian cooking, especially in India. This yellow rhizome is
known for its medicinal and nutritional properties for many centuries and hence in
Chinese and Indian traditional medicine it has been used for treating internal diseases
and common ailments. It has various pharmacological properties including anticancer
activity, which is mainly centered on its orange colored curcuminoid polyphenol called
“curcumin”. Cancer is a deadly multifactorial disease originating from cells affecting
many parts of the body in later stages. New cancer drugs and treatment methods
become an everyday search due to the genetic complexity of the disease. Nowadays,
natural products like turmeric are gaining importance as cancer therapeutics since their
dietary intake reduces the cancer risk. In this chapter, the background, importance and
pharmacological activities of turmeric and its chemical constituent curcumin were
discussed with reference to the recent anticancer studies. Numerous reports are
available on the anticancer potential of turmeric and curcumin. As reflected from these
study results, curcumin was observed to inhibit the proliferation of cells, invasion,
angiogenesis and metastasis in tumor cells. It increases the accumulation of free
radicals through the reactive oxygen species resulting in apoptosis. It also sensitizes
cancer cells for other cancer therapies. Due to its antioxidant and pharmacological
activities, it can even reverse the cancer progression in the early stages. In contrast, the
poor absorption limits its clinical use but the conversion into nanoforms improves its
solubility. Curcumin is nongenotoxic and nonmutagenic and hence it is approved as a
safe substance in various clinical trials.
Keywords: Anticancer, Antioxidant, Apoptosis, Cancer, Chemotherapy,
Curcumin, Nutraceutical, Pharmacology, Phytotherapy, Signaling pathways,
Turmeric.
