{"title":"Curcumin: multifaceted biological actions and therapeutic implications-a narrative review.","authors":"Behnam Ghorbani-Nejad, Matin Baghani, Sajad Amiri, Nasim Agaei Delche, Mohammad Hossein Darijani, Motahareh Soltani, Alireza Nezami, Milad Rahimzadegan","doi":"10.1007/s10787-025-01932-6","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Curcumin, a bioactive polyphenol extracted from the rhizome of Curcuma longa, has garnered considerable attention for its wide-ranging pharmacological properties and potential therapeutic applications. This narrative review critically synthesizes current evidence on curcumin's multifaceted biological actions, encompassing its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and metabolic regulatory effects. Extensive preclinical and clinical studies have demonstrated that curcumin exerts beneficial effects by modulating key cellular signaling pathways and mitigating oxidative stress and inflammatory responses. Despite its promising profile, clinical translation has been hampered by issues related to low bioavailability and rapid metabolism. Recent advances in novel formulation strategies and combination therapies, however, have shown potential in overcoming these limitations. This review uniquely consolidates recent mechanistic insights with clinical translation challenges, identifying specific gaps in bioavailability research and proposing novel combination therapy approaches that distinguish it from existing curcumin reviews, ultimately facilitating evidence-based therapeutic development.</p>","PeriodicalId":13551,"journal":{"name":"Inflammopharmacology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Inflammopharmacology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10787-025-01932-6","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"IMMUNOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Curcumin, a bioactive polyphenol extracted from the rhizome of Curcuma longa, has garnered considerable attention for its wide-ranging pharmacological properties and potential therapeutic applications. This narrative review critically synthesizes current evidence on curcumin's multifaceted biological actions, encompassing its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and metabolic regulatory effects. Extensive preclinical and clinical studies have demonstrated that curcumin exerts beneficial effects by modulating key cellular signaling pathways and mitigating oxidative stress and inflammatory responses. Despite its promising profile, clinical translation has been hampered by issues related to low bioavailability and rapid metabolism. Recent advances in novel formulation strategies and combination therapies, however, have shown potential in overcoming these limitations. This review uniquely consolidates recent mechanistic insights with clinical translation challenges, identifying specific gaps in bioavailability research and proposing novel combination therapy approaches that distinguish it from existing curcumin reviews, ultimately facilitating evidence-based therapeutic development.
期刊介绍:
Inflammopharmacology is the official publication of the Gastrointestinal Section of the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (IUPHAR) and the Hungarian Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology Society (HECPS). Inflammopharmacology publishes papers on all aspects of inflammation and its pharmacological control emphasizing comparisons of (a) different inflammatory states, and (b) the actions, therapeutic efficacy and safety of drugs employed in the treatment of inflammatory conditions. The comparative aspects of the types of inflammatory conditions include gastrointestinal disease (e.g. ulcerative colitis, Crohn''s disease), parasitic diseases, toxicological manifestations of the effects of drugs and environmental agents, arthritic conditions, and inflammatory effects of injury or aging on skeletal muscle. The journal has seven main interest areas:
-Drug-Disease Interactions - Conditional Pharmacology - i.e. where the condition (disease or stress state) influences the therapeutic response and side (adverse) effects from anti-inflammatory drugs. Mechanisms of drug-disease and drug disease interactions and the role of different stress states
-Rheumatology - particular emphasis on methods of measurement of clinical response effects of new agents, adverse effects from anti-rheumatic drugs
-Gastroenterology - with particular emphasis on animal and human models, mechanisms of mucosal inflammation and ulceration and effects of novel and established anti-ulcer, anti-inflammatory agents, or antiparasitic agents
-Neuro-Inflammation and Pain - model systems, pharmacology of new analgesic agents and mechanisms of neuro-inflammation and pain
-Novel drugs, natural products and nutraceuticals - and their effects on inflammatory processes, especially where there are indications of novel modes action compared with conventional drugs e.g. NSAIDs
-Muscle-immune interactions during inflammation [...]