1Associate Professor, Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Manipal
2Assistant Professor, Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Manipal
3Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India
Chemoprevention is defined as the inhibition or reversal of carcinogenesis, a phenomenon that starts with alteration of normal cellular structure and terminates with cancer. There are many chemopreventive agents which are under trial for therapeutic use. Long-term use of most of the synthetic agents is associated with significant dose-related toxicity. Thereby the use of natural chemopreventive agents is desirable. This paper reviews one such natural agent curcumin which is used in chemoprevention of oral cancer.
Chemoprevention, cancer, curcumin
