The effect of curcumin on hypoxia in the tumour microenvironment as a regulatory factor in cancer

Mohammad Zahedi; Hanieh Salmani Izadi; Faezeh Arghidash; Eric Gumpricht; Maciej Banach; Amirhossein Sahebkar

doi:10.5114/aoms/171122

The effect of curcumin on hypoxia in the tumour microenvironment as a regulatory factor in cancer

Arch Med Sci. 2023 Aug 14;19(6):1616-1629. doi: 10.5114/aoms/171122. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Mohammad Zahedi^{1

2}, Hanieh Salmani Izadi³, Faezeh Arghidash⁴, Eric Gumpricht⁵, Maciej Banach^{6

7}, Amirhossein Sahebkar^{8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Student Research Committee, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
² Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Allied Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
³ Student Research Committee, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
⁴ Department of Medical Biotechnology and Nanotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
⁵ Isagenix International, LLC, Gilbert, Arizona, AZ, United States.
⁶ Department of Preventive Cardiology and Lipidology, Medical University of Lodz (MUL), Lodz, Poland.
⁷ Cardiovascular Research Centre, University of Zielona Gora, Zielona Gora, Poland.
⁸ Biotechnology Research Centre, Pharmaceutical Technology Institute, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
⁹ Applied Biomedical Research Centre, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.

Abstract

Hypoxia can lead to different responses from cancer cells, including cell death or survival, partially depending on how long it is exposed. Patients with cancer and under hypoxic tumour conditions have a poorer prognosis and are at greater risk of metastasis. Physiological response to low oxygen levels is controlled by hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1. Curcumin, the major component of the rhizomes of Curcuma longa L., reduces HIF-1 levels and function, inhibiting the production of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). In addition, curcumin efficiently inhibits the angiogenesis of vascular endothelial cells triggered by hypoxia. One of the most compelling features that drive continued interest in curcumin is the molecules' modulation of initiation, promotion, and progression stages of cancer while concomitantly acting as a radiosensitizer and chemosensitizer for tumours. In this review, we discuss the role of curcumin in modulating hypoxia and investigate the mechanisms and regulatory factors of hypoxia in tumour tissues.

Keywords: Von Hippel-Lindau; cancer; curcumin; hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF); tumour hypoxia.