Clinical effects of curcumin in enhancing cancer therapy: A systematic review

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#antineoplastic-combined-chemotherapy-protocols #cell-survival #chemoradiotherapy #curcumin #drug-related-side-effects-and-adverse-reactions

Clinical effects of curcumin in enhancing cancer therapy: A systematic review

Mansouri et al., 2020 | BMC Cancer | Systematic Review

Citation

Mansouri Kamran, Rasoulpoor Shna, ... Shabani Shervin. Clinical effects of curcumin in enhancing cancer therapy: A systematic review. BMC Cancer. 2020-Aug-24;20(1):791. doi:10.1186/s12885-020-07256-8

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Curcumin is herbal compound that has been shown to have anti-cancer effects in pre-clinical and clinical studies. The anti-cancer effects of curcumin include inhibiting the carcinogenesis, inhibiting angiogenesis, and inhibiting tumour growth. This study aims to determine the Clinical effects of curcumin in different types of cancers using systematic review approach. METHODS: A systematic review methodology is adopted for undertaking detailed analysis of the effects of curcumin in cancer therapy. The results presented in this paper is an outcome of extracting the findings of the studies selected from the articles published in international databases including SID, MagIran, IranMedex, IranDoc, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, Scopus, PubMed and Web of Science (ISI). These databases were thoroughly searched, and the relevant publications were selected based on the plausible keywords, in accordance with the study aims, as follows: prevalence, curcumin, clinical features, cancer. RESULTS: The results are derived based on several clinical studies on curcumin consumption with chemotherapy drugs, highlighting that curcumin increases the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiotherapy which results in improving patient's survival time, and increasing the expression of anti-metastatic proteins along with reducing their side effects. CONCLUSION: The comprehensive systematic review presented in this paper confirms that curcumin reduces the side effects of chemotherapy or radiotherapy, resulting in improving patients' quality of life. A number of studies reported that, curcumin has increased patient survival time and decreased tumor markers' level.

Key Findings

The results are derived based on several clinical studies on curcumin consumption with chemotherapy drugs, highlighting that curcumin increases the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiotherapy which results in improving patient's survival time, and increasing the expression of anti-metastatic proteins along with reducing their side effects.

Outcomes Measured

  • Requires manual extraction

Population

Field Value
Population See abstract
Sample Size See abstract
Age Range See abstract
Condition See abstract

MeSH Terms

  • Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols
  • Cell Survival
  • Chemoradiotherapy
  • Curcumin
  • Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions
  • Humans
  • Inflammation
  • Neoplasms
  • Neovascularization, Pathologic
  • Oxidative Stress
  • Quality of Life
  • Radiation Injuries

Evidence Classification

  • Level: Systematic Review
  • Publication Types: Journal Article, Systematic Review
  • Vertical: curcumin

Provenance

Source extracted via PubMed E-utilities API on 2026-04-09