• Targeting microRNAs by curcumin: implication for cancer therapy
  • Fatemeh Sadoughi,1 Parisa Maleki Dana,2 Zatollah Asemi,3 Bahman Yousefi ,4,*
    1. Research Center for Biochemistry and Nutrition in Metabolic Diseases, Institute for Basic Sciences, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
    2. Research Center for Biochemistry and Nutrition in Metabolic Diseases, Institute for Basic Sciences, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Islamic Republic of Iran.
    3. Research Center for Biochemistry and Nutrition in Metabolic Diseases, Institute for Basic Sciences, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
    4. Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.


  • Introduction: Curcumin is a polyphenol that has been widely used in the cancer treatment field due to its several beneficial effects, including anti-inflammatory impacts, apoptosis induction, and anti-oxidant processes. Moreover, curcumin is able to affect different signaling pathways, transcription factors, and growth factors. MicroRNAs are a subclass of small non-coding RNAs which are involved in regulating the expression of various genes by epigenetic processes, such as histone modification and DNA methylation. In recent years, changing the microRNAs’ expression has attracted the attention of researchers as a new aspect of curcumin’s beneficial effects in cancer therapy. Thus, herein, we investigate how curcumin modulates cancer hallmarks by involving microRNAs.
  • Methods: This study aims to collect the information available on the applications of curcumin in cancer therapy that are mediated by different microRNAs. Different search engines (e.g. PubMed and Google Scholar) have been used to find the relevant data and a summary of what we know so far has been provided.
  • Results: Research has shown that curcumin leads to cell cycle arrest and suppresses the proliferation in cancer cells through different microRNAs (such as miR-21, miR-192-5p, and has-miR-138). It is also reported that microRNAs (e.g. miR-182-96-183 and miR-181b) are involved in curcumin inhibitory effects on metastasis and invasion of cancer cells. MicroRNAs (e.g. miR 146a and miR-29b-1-5p) can also mediate the curcumin chemo-sensitizing effect which is important for overcoming chemo-resistance. Furthermore, a few studies are suggesting that curcumin may play a role in the DNA damage response of cancer cells by microRNAs.
  • Conclusion: Curcumin’s ability to exert its antitumor effect through microRNAs leads to better opportunities of providing targeted therapies, reducing resistance against common chemotherapeutic agents, and decreasing adverse effects of common therapeutic approaches.
  • Keywords: curcumin, microRNA, cancer therapy, cancer hallmarks