Curcumin in chemoprevention of breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most common malignant cancer among women, both in Poland and worldwide. Due to the constantly increasing number of breast cancer cases, it is vital to develop effective activities in primary and secondary prevention. One of the promising methods of best value, connecting both types of cancer prevention, appears to be chemoprevention. Chemoprevention uses natural or synthetic compounds to inhibit, delay or reverse the process of carcinogenesis. Among ingredients of natural origin, great attention is paid to curcumin - a broad-spectrum anti-cancer polyphenol derivative, extracted from the rhizome of Curcuma longa L. Curcumin has a number of chemopreventive properties such as anti-inflammatory activity, induction of apoptosis, inhibition of angiogenesis as well as tumor metastasis. Numerous in vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated the mentioned anti-cancer effect in the epithelial breast cell line MCF-10A and in the epithelial breast cell lines MCF-7, BT-474, SK-BR-3-hr and MDA-MB-231. The main problem associated with the use of curcumin as a chemopreventive agent in humans is its low absorption from the gastrointestinal tract, poor solubility in body fluids and low bioavailability. Current studies are underway to increase the bioavailability and effectiveness of curcumin in vivo. Good results in the prevention and the treatment of breast cancer could be ensured by curcumin nanoparticles coated with albumin, known as nanocurcumin. The studies using nanocurcumin, however, are still in the preclinical stage, which is why there is a need to conduct extensive long-term randomized clinical trials to determine its effectiveness.