Curcumin and Its Analogs in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Treatment: Challenges and Expectations

Abstract

Researchers have made crucial advances in understanding the pathogenesis and therapeutics of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), improving our understanding of lung tumor biology and progression. Although the survival of NSCLC patients has improved due to chemoradiotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy, overall NSCLC recovery and survival rates remain low. Thus, there is an urgent need for the continued development of novel NSCLC drugs or combination therapies with less toxicity. Although the anticancer effectiveness of curcumin (Cur) and some Cur analogs has been reported in many studies, the results of clinical trials have been inconsistent. Therefore, in this review, we collected the latest related reports about the anti-NSCLC mechanisms of Cur, its analogs, and Cur in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents via the Pubmed database (accessed on 18 June 2022). Furthermore, we speculated on the interplay of Cur and various molecular targets relevant to NSCLC with discovery studio and collected clinical trials of Cur against NSCLC to clarify the role of Cur and its analogs in NSCLC treatment. Despite their challenges, Cur/Cur analogs may serve as promising therapeutic agents or adjuvants for lung carcinoma treatment.

Evaluation of the effect of Drimia Maritima and curcumin extracts in changes in the expression of Bax, Bcl-2, and P53 genes in lung cancer non-small cell

“…Also, in examining the expression of the P53 gene as a tumor suppressor gene, the effect of curcumin alone has shown an increase in expression in A549 cells. Tang et al [27] also noted in a review study the effect of curcumin on non-small cell lung cancer cells, increasing the expression of the P53 gene.…”

Caffeic acid phenethyl ester surmounts acquired resistance of AZD9291 in non‐small cell lung cancer cells

“…Natural therapeutic products can offer similar effects with a much more tolerable therapeutic index 41 . We selected CAPE, curcumin, and DATS specifically to be used in this study as they exhibit some of those properties and also been employed as potential mono‐therapeutic agents against lung cancer 42–44 . Among these three natural compounds, CAPE showed the most promise as the natural therapeutic agent which could be utilized in combination with AZD9291 to overcome EGFR‐TKI resistance.…”

“…41 We selected CAPE, curcumin, and DATS specifically to be used in this study as they exhibit some of those properties and also been employed as potential mono-therapeutic agents against lung cancer. [42][43][44] Among these three natural compounds, CAPE showed the most promise as the natural therapeutic agent which could be utilized in combination with AZD9291 to overcome EGFR-TKI resistance. We found that CAPE synergistically enhanced the AZD9291-induced cytotoxic effects as it significantly decreased the IC 50 of AZD9291.…”

Triptolide restrains the growth, invasion, stemness, and glycolysis of non‐small cell lung cancer cells by PFKFB2‐mediated PI3K/AKT pathway

“…The clinical outcome of NSCLC is directly related to the cancer stage (Mithoowani & Febbraro, 2022). As medical technology advances, effective methods of treating NSCLC are constantly being introduced, but the 5‐year survival rate remains low (Duma et al., 2019; Tang et al., 2022). The mortality of NSCLC in China is still higher than in Western countries (Chen et al., 2022).…”