Right © 2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. Type Journal Article

A number of preclinical studies have demonstrated an-ticancer effects for curcumin in various types of tumors, including pancreatic cancer. Curcumin has anticancer ef-fects both alone and in combination with other antican-cer drugs (e.g., gemcitabine, 5-fluorouracil, and oxali-platin), and it has been shown to modulate a variety of molecular targets in preclinical models, with more than 30 molecular targets identified to date. Of these various molecules, NF-kB is thought to be one of the primary targets of curcumin activity. Based on these promising preclinical results, several research groups, including our own, have progressed to testing the anticancer ef-fects of curcumin in clinical trials; however, the poor bioavailability of this agent has been the major chal