Table 1.

Oral cancer studies with novel curcumin formulations

Curcumin formulations	Study type	Results	Ref.
Liposomes	In vitro	Size of vesicle attributed to enhanced release of curcumin and cytotoxicity in the SCC9 cells	Gosangari et al[119], 2012
Cur microemulsion	In vitro	Damaged and ruptured OSCC 25 cells, cell death enhanced by ultrasound	Lin et al[121], 2012
PLGA Cur- NP	In vitro	Increased ROS production, upregulated caspase-3/caspase-9, cytochrome c, Apaf- 1, AIF, Bax, downregulated Bcl-2	Chang et al[103], 2013
Cur-SiNP	In vitro	Cytotoxicity by inhibition of NF-κB activity, suppression of MMP-9, angiogenesis (VEGF), and inflammation (TNF-α) in the dark as well as on exposure to light	Singh et al[128], 2014
Trienone analogues of curcuminoids	In vitro	1,4,6-trien-3-one analogue has more potent cytotoxicity than the curcuminoid type function in oral cancer cells	Chuprajob et al[88], 2014
Cur-loaded chitosan-coated PCL nanoparticle	In vitro	Mucoadhesive properties decreased SCC9 cell viability by inducing apoptosis	Mazzarino et al[129], 2015
Cur analogue EF24	In vitro	Anticancer activity on CAL-27 cancer cells via deactivation of the MAPK/ERK signaling pathway	Lin et al[89], 2017
Gold nanorod-drug conjugates (Au NR@Curcumin)	In vitro	Cancer cell cycle S phase arrest, the photothermal killing of the cancer cells	Zhu et al[132], 2018
NP Cur	In vitro	Chemoprotective nature of Cur towards 5-FU induced cell toxicity, antioxidant effect, altered expression of apoptotic proteins Bcl2 and Bax	Srivastava et al[112], 2018
	In vitro	Chemo-adjuvant property of NP Cur with Cetuximab	Mukherjee et al[136], 2022
	In vitro	Cytotoxicity via apoptosis, luminescence property of NP Cur acting as a theranostic agent	Essawy et al[135], 2022
PGA- Gef/Cur NP	In vitro	NPs internalized into SAS cells, decreased cell viability, and induced apoptotic cell death via	Lai et al[134], 2019
		caspase-3,9 and mitochondria-dependent pathway
	In vivo	Suppressed tumor size compared to the free Gef/Cur-treated group
Mucoadhesive nanostructured Cur	In vitro, Ex vivo	Improved cytotoxicity, enhanced Cur release, and permeation while selectively targeting cancer cells	Ferreira et al[137], 2019
DNA Cur complex	In vitro	Enhanced cellular delivery of Cur increased cancer cell cytotoxicity in combination with FdU nucleotides	Ghosh et al[133], 2020
Nano micelle	In vitro	Improved controlled-release of Cur, enhanced cellular uptake, apoptotic cell death by changing the mitochondrial membrane potential	Kumbar et al[120], 2022
Cur
Cur-loaded noisome	In vitro	Significant cytotoxicity compared to free curcumin after 24 h	Fazli et al[138], 2022
	In vivo	Injection use (systemic) was shown to be more effective than the use of mouthwash (topical)

AIF: Apoptosis-inducing factor; Apaf-1: Programmed cell death ligand 1; CAR cells: Cisplatin-resistant human oral cancer cells; Cur: Curcumin; FdU: 5-fluoro-2′-deoxyuridine; 5-FU: 5-fluorouracil; MAPK: Mitogen-activated protein kinase; MDR 1: Multiple drug resistance proteins 1; MMP-9: Matrix metalloproteinase 9; Nano-CU: Nanoparticle of curcumin; NF-κB: Nuclear factor κ-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells; NP: Nanoparticle; OSCC: Oral squamous cell carcinoma; PCL: Polycaprolactone; PGA- Gef/Cur NP: γ-polyglutamic acid-coated Gefitinib and curcumin-loaded nanoparticles; PLGA: D,l-lactide-co-glycolide; ROS: Reactive oxygen species; SCC: Squamous cell carcinoma; SiNp: Silica nanoparticle; TNF-α: Tumor necrosis factor α; VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor.