Dealing with cancer is of importance due to enhanced incidence rate of this life-threatening disorder. Chemotherapy is an ideal candidate in overcoming and eradication of cancer. To date, various chemotherapeutic agents have been applied in cancer therapy and paclitaxel (PTX) is one of them. PTX is a key member of taxane family with potential anti-tumor activity against different cancers. Notably, PTX has demonstrated excellent proficiency in elimination of cancer in clinical trials. This chemotherapeutic agent is isolated from Taxus brevifolia, and is a tricyclic diterpenoid. However, resistance of cancer cells into PTX chemotherapy has endangered its efficacy. Besides, administration of PTX is associated with a number of side effects such as neurotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, cardiotoxicity and so on, demanding novel strategies in obviating PTX issues. Curcumin is a pharmacological compound with diverse therapeutic effects including anti-tumor, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic and so on. In the current review, we demonstrate that curcumin, a naturally occurring nutraceutical compound is able to enhance anti-tumor activity of PTX against different cancers. Besides, curcumin administration reduces adverse effects of PTX due to its excellent pharmacological activities. These topics are discussed with an emphasis on molecular pathways to provide direction for further studies in revealing other signaling networks.

由于这种威胁生命的疾病的发病率增加，因此应对癌症非常重要。化学疗法是克服和根除癌症的理想人选。迄今为止，各种化学治疗剂已被用于癌症治疗，紫杉醇（PTX）是其中之一。PTX是紫杉烷家族的关键成员，具有针对不同癌症的潜在抗肿瘤活性。值得注意的是，在临床试验中，PTX在消除癌症方面表现出了卓越的专业水平。该化学治疗剂是从短叶红豆杉中分离出来的，是三环二萜。但是，癌细胞对PTX化疗的耐药性危及了其疗效。此外，PTX的施用还与许多副作用如神经毒性，肝毒性，心脏毒性等相关联，因此需要新的策略来消除PTX问题。姜黄素是一种具有多种治疗作用的药理化合物，包括抗肿瘤，抗氧化，抗炎，抗糖尿病等。在当前的综述中，我们证明了姜黄素（一种天然存在的保健食品化合物）能够增强PTX对不同癌症的抗肿瘤活性。此外，姜黄素的给药具有出色的药理活性，可减少PTX的不良反应。