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Review
. 2021 Oct 11:2021:3006853.
doi: 10.1155/2021/3006853. eCollection 2021.

The Multifaceted Therapeutic Mechanisms of Curcumin in Osteosarcoma: State-of-the-Art

Fatemeh Zahedipour  1   2 , Monireh Bolourinezhad  2 , Yong Teng  3 , Amirhossein Sahebkar  4   5   6
Affiliations
Review

The Multifaceted Therapeutic Mechanisms of Curcumin in Osteosarcoma: State-of-the-Art

Fatemeh Zahedipour et al. J Oncol. .

Abstract

Osteosarcoma is a major form of malignant bone tumor that typically occurs in young adults and children. The combination of aggressive surgical strategies and chemotherapy has led to improvements in survival time, although individuals with recurrent or metastatic conditions still have an extremely poor prognosis. This disappointing situation strongly indicates that testing novel, targeted therapeutic agents is imperative to prevent the progression of osteosarcoma and enhance patient survival time. Curcumin, a naturally occurring phenolic compound found in Curcuma longa, has been shown to have a wide variety of anti-tumor, anti-oxidant, and anti-inflammatory activities in many types of cancers including osteosarcoma. Curcumin is a highly pleiotropic molecule that can modulate intracellular signaling pathways to regulate cell proliferation, inflammation, and apoptosis. These signaling pathways include RANK/RANKL, Notch, Wnt/β-catenin, apoptosis, autophagy, JAK/STAT, and HIF-1 pathways. Additionally, curcumin can regulate the expression of various types of microRNAs that are involved in osteosarcoma. Therefore, curcumin may be a potential candidate for the prevention and treatment of osteosarcoma. This comprehensive review not only covers the use of curcumin in the treatment of osteosarcoma and its anti-cancer molecular mechanisms but also reveals the novel delivery strategies and combination therapies with the aim to improve the therapeutic effect of curcumin.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The role of curcumin in the regulation of the RANK/RANKL pathway in osteosarcoma.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The effect of curcumin on apoptosis and autophagy signaling pathways in osteosarcoma.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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