Curcumin's Therapeutic Potential in Ovarian Cancer: Current Insights and Future Perspectives

Ovarian cancer remains the leading cause of gynecological cancer-related mortality in women, highlighting the urgent need for novel therapeutic approaches despite advances in current treatments such as chemotherapy. Curcumin, a natural compound, exhibits potent anticancer properties against ovarian cancer. This review summarizes recent advances in understanding curcumin's role in ovarian cancer therapy. Preclinical studies underscore curcumin's potential as an adjunctive agent, particularly in combination with standard therapies. It enhances treatment efficacy by sensitizing cancer cells to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Curcumin modulates apoptotic and resistance pathways, inhibits cellular proliferation, and mitigates metastasis in ovarian cancer models. However, the transition from preclinical research to clinical application remains challenging due to the limited number of human trials evaluating curcumin's efficacy, safety profile, and optimal dosage. Recent advancements in delivery systems-such as nanoformulations and lipid-based carriers-aim to improve curcumin's solubility and systemic absorption. These innovations not only enhance curcumin's therapeutic efficacy but also facilitate synergistic combinations with standard chemotherapeutic agents such as cisplatin, thereby improving treatment outcomes and potentially reducing adverse effects. Future research should focus on elucidating curcumin's interactions with ovarian cancer organoids and advancing multi-omics approaches to uncover its epigenetic and therapeutic mechanisms. Addressing these challenges will support the translation of curcumin into an effective therapeutic agent for treating ovarian cancer.