The effect of curcumin on carcinogenesis and metastasis development

Curcumin is a polyphenol from the roots of plant Curcuma longa. Highly pleiotropic effect of curcumin has presently application not only in prevention, but also in treatment of various diseases including cancer. Therefore, this bachelor thesis aims to summarize the current knowledge concerning the effect of curcumin on carcinogenesis and metastasis development. Considering the inhibition of cancer cells proliferation, curcumin stops the progression of cell cycle, primarily via regulating the activity of cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases, their inhibitory proteins or tumor suppressor protein p53. Additionally, p53 also seems to have an important role in the initiation of intrinsic apoptotic pathway, which was observed in many cancer cell lines after curcumin administration. Apoptotic proteins involved in apoptosis induction after curcumin application also comprise Bcl-2 family proteins and, caspases. Other mechanisms exerted by which curcumin prevent cancer development include suppression of angiogenesis, increase of oxidative stress or modulation of inflammatory response. Finally, curcumin also suppress cancer cells invasion and migration by enhancing the transcription of E- cadherin and decreasing of the transcription of matrix metalloproteinases. Because the application of curcumin in clinical..