Two Faces of Curcumin; A Molecular Nutrition and an Anti-Cancer Agent

Curcumin, a useful herbal medicine with anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties is insoluble in water which restricts its therapeutic properties; its prominent application in cancer treatment is limited due to curcumin sub-optimal pharmacokinetics and poor bioavailability at the tumor site. Cyclodextrins have the ability to increase the solubility of many hydrophobic drugs. Several complexes have been proposed to improve the solubility of curcumin. In this study, we have demonstrated the inclusion complexation of equimolar β-cyclodextrin and curcumin (βCD-CUR) which is confirmed through several analytical methods such as FTIR and DSC analysis. Finally, cell viability test as well as cell morphology assessment were conducted using MTT assay on MCF7, human breast cancer cell line and L929, fibroblastic normal cells. The results showed that the inclusion complex formulation had no significant cytotoxic effect on normal cells, while there was a significant morphological changes and shrinkage in cancer cells treated by βCD-CUR.