Table 1.

Summary of clinical trials with curcumin in various cancers.

Serial	Study	Number of Patients	Health Condition	Dose	Outcome	Reference
1	Double blind crossover	62	Cancer lesions	Topical ointment	Symptomatic relief to patients	[59]
2	Pilot study	16	Lung cancer	1500 mg/day; 30 days (turmeric)	Urinary excretion of mutagens was decreased in smokers	[296]
3	Pilot study	58	Cancer lesions	3600 mg/day; 3 months (turmeric)	Micronuclei number in mucosal cells and circulating lymphocytes decreased	[297]
4	Prospective Phase I trial	25	Cancer lesions	8000 mg/day; 3 months	Histologic improvement of precancerous lesions	[292]
5	Prospective Phase I trial	15	Colorectal cancer	36–180 mg; 4 months	Decrease in glutathione S-transferase activity	[298]
6	Phase I trial	12	Hepatic metastases from colorectal cancer	450–3600 mg/day; 1 week	Low bioavailability of oral dose such that the dose of curcumin required to exert its pharmacological activity at hepatic level is not feasible in humans	[299]
7	Phase I trial	15	Colorectal cancer	450–3600 mg/day; 4 months oral dose	PGE2 production reduced	[300]
8	Phase I trial	12	Colorectal cancer	450–3600 mg/day; 7 days	M1G levels decreased	[301]
9	Pilot study	5	Colorectal cancer (Familial adenomatous polyposis)	1440 mg/day; 6 months, combined with quercetin	The number and size of polyps reduced without any significant toxicity	[302]
10	Prospective Phase I trial	24	Healthy volunteers	500–1200 mg; single oral dose	Overall well tolerated but 30% subjects had minor adverse events	[303]
11	Randomized, placebo controlled, double blind	100	Cancer lesions in oral lichen planus	2000 mg/day; 7 weeks, combined with prednisone	Not efficacious but well tolerated	[293]
12	Phase I/II trial	29	Multiple myeloma	2000–12,000 mg/day; 12 weeks combined with Bioperine	Well tolerated, improved bioavailability and decrease in NF-κB, COX2 and STAT3	[304]
13	Phase II trial	25	Advanced pancreatic cancer	8000 mg/day; 2 months	Well tolerated but absorption was limited and was effective only in some patients	[305]
14	Single blind, cross over	26	Multiple myeloma	4000 gm/day; 6 months	Urinary N-telopeptide of type I collagen and paraprotein levels reduced	[306]
15	Phase I, open-label, dose escalation trial	14	Advanced and metastatic breast cancer	6000 mg/day; 7 days, every 3 weeks, combined with docetaxel	Well tolerated and efficacious	[307]
16	Open-label, phase II trial	17	Advanced pancreatic cancer	8000 mg/day; 4 weeks; combined with gemcitabine	Modest efficacy, therapy not a feasible	[308]
17	Randomized, double blind, controlled	85	Prostate cancer	100 mg/day; 6 months, combined with soy isoflavones	Serum PSA content decreased	[309]
18	Pilot study	75	Pre-cancerous lesions	1000 mg/day; 7 days	MDA and 8-OHdG levels increased in saliva and serum while Vitamin C and E levels reduced	[294]
19	Phase IIa trial	44	Colorectal cancer	2000–4000 mg/day; 1 month	Aberrant Crypt Foci formation reduced only in smokers	[310]
20	Pilot study	126	Colorectal cancer	1080 mg/day; 10–30 days	Increased p53 expression, decrease in serum TNF-α and improved body weight	[233]
21	Phase I/II	21	Gemcitabine-resistant pancreatic cancer	8000 mg/day	Well tolerated	[311]
22	Pilot study	39	Head and neck cancer	2 curcumin tablets	IKKβ kinase activity decreased which correlated with IL-8 decrease in saliva	[312]
23	Randomised, double blind, placebo controlled	20	Cancer lesions in oral lichen planus	6000 mg/day; 14 days	Clinical symptoms reduced with no adverse effects	[295,313]
24	Randomised, double blind, placebo controlled, cross over followed by open label study	36	Multiple myeloma	4000 mg/ day; 3 months followed by 8000 mg/day; 3 months	Slowed down disease progression	[314]
25	Randomized, open label	50	Chronic myeloid leukaemia	15,000 mg/day; 6 weeks in combination with imatinib	Enhanced decrease in nitric oxide levels	[315]