Curcumin has long been known to posses medicinal properties and recent scientific studies have shown its efficacy in treating cancer. Curcumin is now considered to be a promising anti-cancer agent and studies continue on its molecular mechanism of action. Curcumin has been shown to act in a multi-faceted manner by targeting the classical hallmarks of cancer like sustained proliferation, evasion of apoptosis, sustained angiogenesis, insensitivity to growth inhibitors, tissue invasion and metastasis etc. However, one of the emerging hallmarks of cancer is the avoidance of immune system by tumors. Growing tumors adopt several strategies to escape immune surveillance and successfully develop in the body. In this review we highlight the recent studies that show that curcumin also targets this process and helps restore the immune activity against cancer. Curcumin mediates several processes like restoration of CD4(+)/CD8(+) T cell populations, reversal of type-2 cytokine bias, reduction of Treg cell population and suppression of T cell apoptosis; all these help to resurrect tumor immune surveillance that leads to tumor regression. Thus interaction of curcumin with the immune system is also an important feature of its multi-faceted modes of action against cancer. Finally, we also point out the drawbacks of and difficulties in curcumin administration and indicate the use of nano-formulations of curcumin for better therapeutic efficacy.

中文翻译：

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姜黄素和肿瘤免疫编辑：恢复免疫系统。

长期以来，姜黄素具有药用特性，最近的科学研究表明其具有治疗癌症的功效。姜黄素现在被认为是一种有前途的抗癌药，并且对其分子作用机理的研究仍在继续。姜黄素已通过靶向癌症的经典特征以多种方式发挥作用，这些特征包括持续增殖，逃避凋亡，持续血管生成，对生长抑制剂不敏感，组织浸润和转移等。然而，癌症的新兴特征之一是避免肿瘤免疫系统。生长中的肿瘤采取了几种策略来逃避免疫监视并在体内成功发展。在这篇综述中，我们重点介绍了最近的研究，这些研究表明姜黄素也靶向该过程，并有助于恢复针对癌症的免疫活性。姜黄素介导多个过程，例如恢复CD4（+）/ CD8（+）T细胞群体，逆转2型细胞因子偏倚，减少Treg细胞群体和抑制T细胞凋亡。所有这些都有助于恢复导致肿瘤消退的肿瘤免疫监视。因此，姜黄素与免疫系统的相互作用也是其针对癌症的多方面作用方式的重要特征。最后，我们还指出了姜黄素给药的弊端和难点，并指出了使用姜黄素纳米制剂来获得更好的治疗效果。所有这些都有助于恢复导致肿瘤消退的肿瘤免疫监视。因此，姜黄素与免疫系统的相互作用也是其针对癌症的多方面作用方式的重要特征。最后，我们还指出了姜黄素给药的弊端和难点，并指出了使用姜黄素纳米制剂来获得更好的治疗效果。所有这些都有助于恢复导致肿瘤消退的肿瘤免疫监视。因此，姜黄素与免疫系统的相互作用也是其针对癌症的多方面作用方式的重要特征。最后，我们还指出了姜黄素给药的弊端和难点，并指出了使用姜黄素纳米制剂来获得更好的治疗效果。