Anti-Cancer Activity and Molecular Mechanism of Selected Diarylpentanoids in Human Cancer Cells

Curcumin analogues Curcumin plays an important role in many integrated signaling pathways that regulate cancer development such as apoptosis, proliferation, tumor promotion, metastases, angiogenesis, inflammation and immortality. Curcumin was demonstrated to have a wide spectrum of pharmacological properties but demonstrates poor bioavailability. Based on the biological and structural characteristics, curcumin can be used as a starting point to design and develop a wide variety of curcumin analogues with similar safety profile, but increased activity and solubility. Currently we are investigating diarylpentanoids, chemically synthesized synthetic analogues of curcumin, for their anticancer properties. We also work on drug combinatorial studies involving combinations of selected diarylpentanoids with chemotherapeutic drugs or phytocompounds such as flavonoids to achieve high therapeutic efficacy with minimal side effects. We use human cancer cell lines such as colon, lung, prostate, breast and glioblastoma as models to understand the underlying molecular mechanisms responsible for their antitumor activity.