title: Curcumin AntiCancer Studies in Pancreatic Cancer.
abstract: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the deadliest cancers worldwide. Surgical resection remains the only curative therapeutic treatment for this disease, although only the minority of patients can be resected due to late diagnosis. Systemic gemcitabine-based chemotherapy plus nab-paclitaxel are used as the gold-standard therapy for patients with advanced PC; although this treatment is associated with a better overall survival compared to the old treatment, many side effects and poor results are still present. Therefore, new alternative therapies have been considered for treatment of advanced PC. Several preclinical studies have demonstrated that curcumin, a naturally occurring polyphenolic compound, has anticancer effects against different types of cancer, including PC, by modulating many molecular targets. Regarding PC, in vitro studies have shown potent cytotoxic effects of curcumin on different PC cell lines including MiaPaCa-2, Panc-1, AsPC-1, and BxPC-3. In addition, in vivo studies on PC models have shown that the anti-proliferative effects of curcumin are caused by the inhibition of oxidative stress and angiogenesis and are due to the induction of apoptosis. On the basis of these results, several researchers tested the anticancer effects of curcumin in clinical trials, trying to overcome the poor bioavailability of this agent by developing new bioavailable forms of curcumin. In this article, we review the results of pre-clinical and clinical studies on the effects of curcumin in the treatment of PC.
authors.affiliation: Division of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Hepatobiliary Unit, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale"-IRCCS-Via Mariano Semmola, Naples 80131, Italy. s.bimonte@istitutotumori.na.it.
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bimonte
authors.affiliation: S.S.D Sperimentazione Animale, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale"-IRCCS, Naples 80131, Italy. a.barbieri@istitutotumori.na.it.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barbieri
authors.affiliation: Division of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Hepatobiliary Unit, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale"-IRCCS-Via Mariano Semmola, Naples 80131, Italy. maddalenaleongito@virgilio.it.
authors.forename: Maddalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Leongito
authors.affiliation: Division of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Hepatobiliary Unit, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale"-IRCCS-Via Mariano Semmola, Naples 80131, Italy. mauropiccirillo73@libero.it.
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Piccirillo
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology Unit, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale"-IRCCS-Via Mariano Semmola, Naples 80131, Italy. aldo.giudice@libero.it.
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giudice
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica e Chirurgia, Sezione di Endocrinologia, Universit&#224; di Napoli Federico II, Naples 80131, Italy. cpivonello@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pivonello
authors.affiliation: I.O.S. &amp; Coleman Srl, Naples 80011, Italy. cristinadeangelis83@hotmail.it.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: de Angelis
authors.affiliation: Division of Radiology, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale"-IRCCS-Via Mariano Semmola, Naples 80131, Italy. cinzia.granata80@libero.it.
authors.forename: Vincenza
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Granata
authors.affiliation: Division of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Hepatobiliary Unit, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale"-IRCCS-Via Mariano Semmola, Naples 80131, Italy. r.palaia@istitutotumori.na.it.
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Palaia
authors.affiliation: Division of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Hepatobiliary Unit, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale"-IRCCS-Via Mariano Semmola, Naples 80131, Italy. f.izzo@istitutotumori.na.it.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Izzo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D003474:Curcumin / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019587:Dietary Supplements / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000517:prevention & control; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000187:drug effects; D010179:Pancreas / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000178:diet therapy* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D000975:Antioxidants; D003474:Curcumin
keywords: curcumin; natural compound; pancreatic cancer; therapy