Table 3.

Curcumin in animal studies.

Animal model	Treatment	Main results	Ref
EGFR overexpressing A431 epidermoid carcinoma xenograft in nude mice	0.5 mg curcumin i.p. twice a day and 1 h visible light exposure after treatment	ErbB1 phosphorylation reduction; decreased tumor growth through proliferation reduction by 70% and 4-fold increased apoptosis	[101]
Erlotinib resistant ErbB1 mutant NSCLC xenograft in nude mice	1 g/kg body weight curcumin, oral 10 mg/kg erlotinib	Curcumin reduced ErbB1 expression and induced apoptosis Curcumin alone decreased tumor growth and increased erlotinib effect on tumor growth reduction	[102]
ErbB1 expressing LNCaP xenograft in nude mice	2% curcumin in diet	Curcumin decreased tumor volume, decreased mitosis, increased apoptosis, and inhibited tumor angiogenesis	[103]
ErbB2 overexpressing BT-474 breast cancer xenograft in nude mice	45 mg/kg curcumin i.p. twice per week for 4 consecutive weeks	Curcumin reduced the expression level of ErbB2, p-Akt, p-MAPK, and NF-κB; curcumin decreased tumor volume by 76.7%	[20]