Curcumin and Its Modified Formulations on Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD): The Story So Far and Future Outlook

• Main Authors: Adhimoolam Karthikeyan, Kim Na Young, Mohammad Moniruzzaman, Anteneh Marelign Beyene, Kyoungtag Do, Senthil Kalaiselvi, Taesun Min
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-04-01
• Series: Pharmaceutics
• Subjects: Crohn’s disease; ulcerative colitis; anti-inflammatory; curcumin nanoformulations; turmeric
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/13/4/484

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic relapsing and remitting inflammatory disorder of the small intestine and colon. IBD includes ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), and it is a major factor for the development of colon cancer, referred to as colitis-associated cancer (CAC). The current treatment of IBD mainly includes the use of synthetic drugs and monoclonal antibodies. However, these drugs have side effects over long-term use, and the high relapse rate restricts their application. In the recent past, many studies had witnessed a surge in applying plant-derived products to manage various diseases, including IBD. Curcumin is a bioactive component derived from a rhizome of turmeric (<i>Curcuma longa</i>). Numerous in vitro and in vivo studies show that curcumin may interact with many cellular targets (NF-κB, JAKs/STATs, MAPKs, TNF-γ, IL-6, PPARγ, and TRPV1) and effectively reduce the progression of IBD with promising results. Thus, curcumin is a potential therapeutic agent for patients with IBD once it significantly decreases clinical relapse in patients with quiescent IBD. This review aims to summarize recent advances and provide a comprehensive picture of curcumin’s effectiveness in IBD and offer our view on future research on curcumin in IBD treatment.