Therapeutic and Mechanistic Effects of Curcumin in Huntington’s Disease

Title:Therapeutic and Mechanistic Effects of Curcumin in Huntington’s Disease

Volume: 19 Issue: 7

Author(s): Fabiana Labanca, Hammad Ullah, Haroon Khan*, Luigi Milella, Jianbo Xiao, Zora Dajic-Stevanovic and Philippe Jeandet

Affiliation:

• Department of Pharmacy, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, 23200,Pakistan

Keywords: Curcumin, huntington's disease, therapeutic potential, degenerative diseases, oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, underlying mechanisms.

Abstract: Curcumin is a spice derived nutraceutical which gained tremendous attention because of its profound medicinal values. It alters a number of molecular pathways such as nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF‐κB), signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and cyclooxygenases-2 (COX‐2), which make it potential therapeutic choice in treating multiple disorders. It also possesses the potential to prevent protein aggregation and thus protect against degeneration of neurons in neurodegenerative disorders including Huntington’s disease (HD). HD is an autosomal dominant disorder linked with altered gene expression which leads to an increase in the size of cytosine, adenine and guanine (CAG) trinucleotide repeats, aids in protein aggregation throughout the brain and thus damages neurons. Upstream regulation of oxidative stress and inflammatory cascade are two important factors that drive HD progression. Available therapies just suppress the severity of symptoms with a number of side effects. Curcumin targets multiple mechanisms in treating or preventing HD including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential, metal ion chelation, transcriptional alterations and upregulating activity of molecular chaperons, heat shock proteins (HSPs). Having a favorable safety profile, curcumin can be an alternative therapeutic choice in treating neurodegenerative disorders like HD. This review will focus on mechanistic aspects of curcumin in treating or preventing HD and its potential to arrest disease progression and will open new dimensions for safe and effective therapeutic agents in diminishing HD.

Cite this article as:

Labanca Fabiana , Ullah Hammad , Khan Haroon *, Milella Luigi , Xiao Jianbo , Dajic-Stevanovic Zora and Jeandet Philippe , Therapeutic and Mechanistic Effects of Curcumin in Huntington’s Disease, Current Neuropharmacology 2021; 19 (7) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1570159X18666200522201123