Curcumol: From Plant Roots to Cancer Roots

Abstract

Natural products, an infinite treasure of bioactive scaffolds, have provided an excellent reservoir for the discovery of drugs since millennium. These naturally occurring, biologically active and therapeutically effective chemical entities have emerged as novel paradigm for the prevention of various diseases. This review aims to give an update on the sources as well as pharmacological profile of curcumol, a pharmacologically active sesquiterpenoid, which is an imperative bioactive constituent of several plants mainly from genus Curcuma. Curcumol has potential to fight against cancer, oxidative stress, neurodegeneration, microbial infections, and inflammation. Curcumol has been documented as potent inducer of apoptosis in numerous cancer cells via targeting key signaling pathways as MAPK/ERK, PI3K/Akt and NF-κB which are generally deregulated in several cancers. The reported data reveals multitarget activity of curcumol in cancer treatment suggesting its importance as anticancer drug in future. It is speculated that curcumol may provide an excellent opportunity for the cure of cancer but further investigations on mechanism of its action and preclinical trials are still mandatory to further validate the potential of this natural cancer killer in anticancer therapies.

Curcumol Ameliorates Lung Inflammation and Airway Remodeling via Inhibiting the Abnormal Activation of the Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway in Chronic Asthmatic Mice

“…As a natural triterpenoid monomer, curcumol was previously proven to possess multiple biological activities, including anti-oxidation, anti-cancer, anti-microbial, and neuroprotection. 12 In addition, anti-inflammation effect of curcumol on suppressing lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation of macrophages has also been also confirmed. 11 Currently, little attention has been paid to the potential role of curcumol on the inflammation in chronic asthmatic.…”

“… 11 Curcumol is a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) monomer extracted from Curcuma zedoariae, Curcuma curcumae, or Guangxi Zedoary turmeric. 12 Multiple biological activities of curcumol have been identified by a large number of in vivo and in vitro studies. For example, curcumol could induce growth inhibition and apoptosis of non-small cell lung cancer cells; 13 Peng et al found that the effect of curcumol on epigenetic regulation is realized by modulating DNA methyltransferase and histone deacetylase; 14 the regulatory effects of curcumol on pulmonary fibrosis, oxidative stress, and cancer cell metastasis are also reported.…”

Comprehensive Metabolome Analysis of Fermented Aqueous Extracts of Viscum album L. by Liquid Chromatography−High Resolution Tandem Mass Spectrometry

“…Twenty terpenoids and their derivatives were annotated, and three of them (carveol, loliolide, and vomifoliol) have already been described in V. album [ 34 , 35 ]. The anticancerogenic activities of terpenoids, such as loliolide, curcumol, dehydrovomifoliol and blumenol A have already been tested in tumor cell lines such as colon cancer, KB human oral epidermoid carcinoma cells, and HT29 colorectal carcinoma cells [ 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ].…”

Curcumol Overcomes TRAIL Resistance of Non‐Small Cell Lung Cancer by Targeting NRH:Quinone Oxidoreductase 2 (NQO2)

“…Curcumol is a major sesquiterpenoid hemiketal compound isolated from the herbal medicine plant Rhizoma Curcumae . Inspired by its remarkable anti‐inflammatory activity, [ 8 ] we identified curcumol as a novel safe sensitizer for TRAIL‐resistant NSCLC cells. In combination with TRAIL, curcumol exhibits synergistic lethal effects on NSCLC via interacting with NQO2 to activate ROS‐CHOP‐DR5 signaling.…”

“…Food‐source compounds are a major source of chemotherapeutic drugs for clinical cancer therapy, due to not only their potential anticancer effects but also their stability and safety for the clinical application. [ 7 ] Curcumol is a guaiane‐type sesquiterpenoid hemiketal isolated from herbal medicine plant Rhizoma Curcumae, which has been reported to exhibit anti‐inflammatory [ 8 ] and anticancer effects in multiple tumor cell lines, without causing side effects. [ 9 ] In hepatic stellate cells, curcumol was reported to inducereceptor‐interacting protein kinase 1/receptor‐interacting protein kinase 3 (RIPK1/RIPK3) complex‐dependent necroptosis through c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase (JNK)‐reactive oxygen species (ROS) pathway.…”