Table 3.

Overview of in vivo studies related to curcumin.

Polyphenol	Animal Model	Dose/ Duration	Anti-Tumor Effects	Type IV Collagenase-Mediated Mechanisms	Reference
Curcumin [1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1,6-heptadiene-3,5-dione]	NOD-SCID mice injected with Ishikawa	50 mg/kg daily intraperitoneally for 31 days	↓tumor volume	↓MMP-2 protein ↓MMP-9 protein	[32]
	Balb/c mice injected with C26	5 mg/kg curcumin with or without 2.5 mg/kg doxorubicin (in free form or long-circulating liposomes, LCLs) intravenously at days 7 and 10 after inoculation	↓tumor volume	↔MMP-2 activity ↔MMP-9 activity (free curcumin) ↓MMP-9 activity (LCL–curcumin, curcumin with doxorubicin) ↓pNF-κB p65 protein	[40]
	C57 B16 mice injected with B16 F10	15 mg/kg of free curcumin or 30 mg/kg of nano-encapsulated curcumin daily intraperitoneally for 12 days (with or without identical doses of chrysin)	↓tumor volume	↓MMP-2, -9 mRNA ↑TIMP-1, -2 mRNA	[39]
	Balb/c-nu mice injected with HepG2	60 mg/kg daily intraperitoneally for 21 days with or without 150 mg/kg metformin orally	↓tumor volume	↓MMP-2, -9 protein ↓PI3 K protein ↓pAkt protein ↓pmTOR protein	[35]
	Nude mice injected with primary WT-1 and WT-3	20 mg/mL of curcumin in corn oil for 21 days	↓tumor weight ↓tumor volume ↑apoptosis	not specified	[34]
	SCID mice injected with SHI-1	15, 30 mg/kg daily intraperitoneally for 15 days	↓tumor weight ↓tumor volume ↑apoptosis	↓MMP-2, -9 mRNA, protein ↑pp38 protein ↓pERK-1/-2 protein ↓pNF-κB p65 protein	[37]
	Balb/c nu/nu mice injected with LN229	60 mg/kg daily intraperitoneally for 4 weeks, accompanied or not by restraint stress for 8 h per day	↓tumor volume	↓MMP-2, -9 protein	[36]
	Balb/c-nu mice injected with HepG2	0.2 mL of 20, 40, 60 μM curcumin daily intraperitoneally for 10 days	↓tumor volume ↓metastatic incidence in lungs	↓MMP-2, -9 protein	[33]

Legend: ↑ activation or increase; ↓ inhibition or decrease; ↔ no impact.