Modification of curcumin and investigation of its bioactivity

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) has known to be one of the most commonly used Chinese herb termed Jiang Huang for the promotion of blood and relieving pain. Even though turmeric has been accessible for almost thousands of years, research involving turmeric as an active medicinal entity has gained recognition only over the last four decades. Modern research suggested that biological activities of turmeric was largely attributed to the presence of curcuminoids which inherits its rich yellow colour1,2. Extensive research over last few decades have shown that curcumin is a potent anti-oxidant, anti - inflammatory and anti-cancer agent. However, curcumin was presented with poor solubility, high toxicity, limited bioavailability, rapid metabolism and known to be a pan-assay interference compound (PAINS). As a result, it has significantly attenuated its therapeutic activity for human consumption2. Our research aims to investigate novel synthetic curcumin analogues which may overcome the aforementioned obstacles. The synthetic curcumin analogues will be screened on a variety of bioassays to evaluate their anti-cancer properties (breast cancer and prostate cancer specifically). It is expected that the synthetic curcumin analogues which are designed to have a higher solubility and bioavailability would present a greater bioactivity than the original curcumin.