Role of curcumin in chemoprevention of oral cancer: a review

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.