Background: Curcumin, an active compound of turmeric spice, is one of the most-studied natural compounds and has been widely recognized as a chemopreventive agent. Several molecular mechanisms have proven that curcumin and its analogs play a role in cancer prevention through modulating various cell signaling pathways as well as in the inhibition of the carcinogenesis process.

Objective: To study the potential role of curcumin in the management of various types of cancer through modulating cell signalling molecules based on available literature and recent patents.

Methods: A wide-ranging literature survey was performed based on Scopus, PubMed, PubMed Central, and Google scholar for the implication of curcumin in cancer management, along with a special emphasis on human clinical trials. Moreover, patents were searched through www.google.com/patents, www.freepatentsonline.com, and www.freshpatents.com.

Result: Recent studies based on cancer cells have proven that curcumin has potential effects against cancer cells as it prevents the growth of cancer and acts as a cancer therapeutic agent. Besides, curcumin exerted anti-cancer effects by inducing apoptosis, activating tumor suppressor genes, cell cycle arrest, inhibiting tumor angiogenesis, initiation, promotion, and progression stages of tumor. It was established that co-treatment of curcumin and anti-cancer drugs could induce apoptosis and also play a significant role in the suppression of the invasion and metastasis of cancer cells.

Conclusion: Accumulating evidences suggest that curcumin has the potential to inhibit cancer growth, induce apoptosis, and modulate various cell signaling pathway molecules. Well-designed clinical trials of curcumin based on human subjects are still needed to establish the bioavailability, mechanism of action, efficacy, and safe dose in the management of various cancers.

背景：姜黄素是姜黄香料的一种活性化合物，是研究最多的天然化合物之一，已被广泛认为是一种化学预防剂。几种分子机制已经证明姜黄素及其类似物通过调节各种细胞信号通路以及抑制致癌过程在癌症预防中发挥作用。

目的：基于现有文献和近期专利，研究姜黄素通过调节细胞信号分子在各种癌症治疗中的潜在作用。

方法：基于 Scopus、PubMed、PubMed Central 和 Google 学者对姜黄素在癌症治疗中的意义进行了广泛的文献调查，并特别强调了人体临床试验。此外，还通过 www.google.com/patents、www.freepatentsonline.com 和 www.freshpatents.com 搜索了专利。

结果：最近基于癌细胞的研究证明姜黄素对癌细胞具有潜在作用，因为它可以防止癌症的生长并作为癌症治疗剂。此外，姜黄素通过诱导细胞凋亡、激活抑癌基因、细胞周期阻滞、抑制肿瘤血管生成、肿瘤的起始、促进和进展阶段发挥抗癌作用。确定姜黄素与抗癌药物联合治疗可诱导细胞凋亡，并在抑制癌细胞的侵袭和转移中发挥重要作用。

结论：越来越多的证据表明姜黄素具有抑制癌症生长、诱导细胞凋亡和调节多种细胞信号通路分子的潜力。仍然需要基于人体受试者的精心设计的姜黄素临床试验，以确定生物利用度、作用机制、疗效和治疗各种癌症的安全剂量。