Recent advances on large-scale manufacture of curcumin and its nanoformulation for cancer therapeutic application

Considerable amount of research is going on the role of plant species that exhibit anti-cancer properties. One such plant species is turmeric, which has been used in the human diet for centuries. The main active component/polyphenol in turmeric is curcumin. Recently, curcumin has been considered for cancer therapy. The initial challenge with curcumin is its large-scale production and purification of curcuminoids from turmeric. Most of the strategies are not fully effective due to the involvement of many organic solvents, time consumption, and inadequate separation between similar derivatives and crystal structures. Some of the methods to avoid using organic solvents are explained in this entry. The second challenge is that the isolated curcumin is unstable under various environmental and physiological conditions and degrades easily. Various strategies have been proposed and investigated to improve its aqueous solubility, stability, bioavailability, and potential therapeutic applications. Among them, nanoformulation is utilized to fill the gaps between clinical application and production. This review summarizes recent advances in curcumin's large-scale production and purification protocols, the necessity of nanoformulation, recent patents, and its anti-cancer mechanism. Emphasis is given on applying safe and green-tech methods of nanoformulation, including Mozafari and Heating methods.