Non-invasive antitumor therapy can treat tumor patients who cannot tolerate
surgery or are unsuitable. However, tumor resistance to non-invasive antitumor therapy
and cardiotoxicity caused by treatment seriously affect the quality of life and prognosis
of patients. As a kind of polyphenol extracted from herbs, curcumin has many pharmacological
effects, such as anti-inflammation, antioxidation, antitumor, etc. Curcumin plays
the antitumor effect by directly promoting tumor cell death and reducing tumor cells' invasive
ability. Curcumin exerts the therapeutic effect mainly by inhibiting the nuclear
factor-κB (NF-κB) signal pathway, inhibiting the production of cyclooxygenase-2
(COX-2), promoting the expression of caspase-9, and directly inducing reactive oxygen
species (ROS) production in tumor cells. Curcumin nanoparticles can solve curcumin's
shortcomings, such as poor water solubility and high metabolic rate, and can be effectively
used in antitumor therapy. Curcumin nanoparticles can improve the prognosis and
quality of life of tumor patients by using as adjuvants to enhance the sensitivity of tumors
to non-invasive therapy and reduce the side effects, especially cardiotoxicity. In
this paper, we collect and analyze the literature of relevant databases. It is pointed out
that future research on curcumin tends to alleviate the adverse reactions caused by treatment,
which is of more significance to tumor patients.