Curcumin and Gastric Cancer: a Review on Mechanisms of Action.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Gastric cancer, as the fourth cause of death in women and third in men with malignant tumors, is now threatening people's lives worldwide. Natural anti-tumor products are potential anti-cancer agents with fewer by-effects. Curcumin, an herbal product, has been used as a cosmetic and food additive and as a traditional herbal medicine for thousands of years in Asian countries. Several studies revealed that curcumin can inhibit the invasion and proliferation of gastric cancer cells. This paper analyzes existing data from animal and in vitro studies in order to highlight the mechanisms of therapeutic effects of curcumin in gastric cancer.

METHODS: Science Direct and Pub Med databases were searched by using "curcumin" and "gastric cancer" for searching the studies aiming the application of curcumin and the beneficial effects of curcumin in gastric cancer control and treatment.

RESULTS: These results suggested that curcumin can suppress multiple signaling pathways and inhibit cancer cell proliferation, invasion, metastasis, and angiogenesis. According to the studies, curcumin can inhibit gastric cancer by several mechanisms including decreasing proliferation, inducing apoptosis, and reducing chemo-resistance in gastric cancer cells.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings of present paper provided novel perceptions about the mechanisms of curcumin action in gastric cancer cell growth inhibition and its therapeutic strategies for gastric cancer control. So, curcumin could be considered as a novel therapeutic strategy to control gastric cancer cell growth.