Armamentarium of anticancer analogues of curcumin: Portray of structural insight, bioavailability, drug-target interaction and therapeutic efficacy

Abstract Cancer represents one of the leading health-care issues around the globe. The overall life expectancy of cancer patients remains dismal regardless of enduring investigations and advances in the management of a disease. Thus the focus is always on the discovery of potential and less toxic alternatives of anticancer agents. Natural compounds from plant and animal kingdoms are grabbing eyeballs around the world owing to their relatively safer and huge unexplored therapeutic potential. One such natural compound is curcumin, which is a yellow polyphenolic compound procured from the plant “Curcuma longa Linn” and used widely as a spice in Indian households. Curcumin has proved its worth in various pathological conditions at preclinical stages. Despite the enormous therapeutic potential, low bioavailability and rapid metabolism are the roadblocks in the journey of curcumin to be a successful clinical candidate. This review is an earnest attempt to provide a summarized account of all the strategies to overcome obstacles of limited bioavailability and improving the therapeutic efficacy of curcumin.Special emphasis is laid on the structural insights into the development of novel curcumin based synthetic analogues endowed with anticancer potential and their docking analysis. Important aspects related to a possible mechanism of action and future prospects in designing of novel curcumin based anticancer analogues are also roofed in this article.