Research progress on drug delivery systems for curcumin in the treatment of gastrointestinal tumors

Table 1 Summary of drug delivery systems

Drug delivery system	Structure	Advantage	Disadvantage	Common types
Polymer	Shell-core structure	Hydrophobic, high and precise drug concentration with low side effects	Poor water solubility	Bioadhesive micelles, active targeting micelles, etc.
Liposome	Lipid bilayer microvesicle carriers	Diversity, targeting, lymphatic targeting, liver protection, etc.	High cost	Unilamellar liposomes, multilamellar liposomes, liposome gel, etc.
Microsphere	Shell-core structure	Covering bad odors, avoiding incompatible combinations, high stability and safety	Relatively short duration and relatively large drug dosage	Conventional injection microspheres, occlusive microspheres, magnetic microspheres, etc.
Nanoparticle (NPs)	Shell-core structure	Amphiphilic, controllable loading effect, long half-life, etc.	Low solubility of inorganic NPs	Lipophilic NPs, nanocapsules, nanospheres, and inorganic NPs, etc.
Nanogel	Intramolecular cross-linked polymer	Anti-fouling, antibacterial, targeting, small size, easily penetrating cells, etc.	No obvious disadvantage	pH-responsive hydrogels, hyaluronic acid hydrogels, copolymer hydrogels
Cyclodextrin	Bimolecular complex	High water solubility, low toxicity, high stability	No obvious disadvantage	α-cyclodextrin, β-cyclodextrin, partially methylated-β-cyclodextrin, etc.

Table 2 Clinical study of curcumin effects on gastrointestinal tumors

Cancer type	Study category	No.	Dosage regimen	Results
Colorectal cancer[37]	Phase II, randomized double-blind study	22	Capecitabine 825 mg/m2, Bid; curcumin 4 g, Bid	Curcumin does not increase the remission rate of patients
Esophageal cancer[38]	Controlled trial	1	Group A: 20 µg/mL curcumin-containing culture; Group B: 2 µg/mL Vincristine-containing culture; Combined group: 20 µg/mL curcumin+2 µg/mL vincristine-containing culture	Curcumin reverses multidrug resistance of esophageal cancer cells
Metastatic colorectal cancer[39]	Phase IIa, randomized controlled trial	28	Control group: FOLFOX1; Research Group: FOLFOX + curcumin 2 g/d	Curcumin plus FOLFOX regimen significantly improves chemotherapy tolerance and safety
Advanced gastric cancer[40]	Randomized controlled trial	56	Control group: FOLFOX; Research Group: FOLFOX + curcumin 25 µmol/L, 1/d	Curcumin plus FOLFOX regimen significantly improves clinical remission rate and reduces toxic side effects

¹FOLFOX is a chemotherapy regimen consisting of oxaliplatin, leucovorin, and 5-fluorouracil. Taking FOLFOX4 as an example, on the first and second day, intravenous infusion of oxaliplatin 85 mg/m² is administered for 2 h; intravenous infusion of leucovorin 200 mg/m² for 2 h; and 5-fluorouracil is given at 400 mg/m² as an initial intravenous bolus followed by a continuous infusion of 600 mg/m² for 22 h. This medication regimen is repeated every 2 wk.