Clinical development of curcumin in neurodegenerative disease

• Published in: Expert review of neurotherapeutics Vol. 15; no. 6; p. 629
• Main Authors: Hu, Shuxin, Maiti, Panchanan, Ma, Qiulan, Zuo, Xiaohong, Jones, Mychica R, Cole, Greg M, Frautschy, Sally A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.06.2015
• Subjects: Amyloid beta-Peptides - metabolism; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal - therapeutic use; Brain - drug effects; Brain - metabolism; Curcumin - therapeutic use; Humans; Models, Biological; Neurodegenerative Diseases - drug therapy; Neurodegenerative Diseases - pathology; Retina - drug effects; Retina - metabolism; tau Proteins - metabolism; polyphenolic antioxidants; antioxidant; brain derived neurotrophic factor; Alzheimer’s disease; nuclear factor kappa B; misfolded proteins; non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; activator protein 1; amyloid; amyloid-binding; neuroinflammation; neurodegeneraton; c-jun N terminal kinase; heat shock proteins
• ISSN: 1744-8360
• DOI: 10.1586/14737175.2015.1044981

Curcumin, a polyphenolic antioxidant derived from the turmeric root has undergone extensive preclinical development, showing remarkable efficacy in wound repair, cancer and inflammatory disorders. This review addresses the rationale for its use in neurodegenerative disease, particularly Alzheimer's disease. Curcumin is a pleiotropic molecule, which not only directly binds to and limits aggregation of the β-sheet conformations of amyloid characteristic of many neurodegenerative diseases but also restores homeostasis of the inflammatory system, boosts the heat shock system to enhance clearance of toxic aggregates, scavenges free radicals, chelates iron and induces anti-oxidant response elements. Although curcumin corrects dysregulation of multiple pathways, it may exert many effects via a few molecular targets. Pharmaceutical development of natural compounds like curcumin and synthetic derivatives have strong scientific rationale, but will require overcoming various hurdles including; high cost of trials, concern about profitability and misconceptions about drug specificity, stability, and bioavailability.