Aging
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Review|Volume 9, Issue 6|pp 1477—1536

Effects of resveratrol, curcumin, berberine and other nutraceuticals on aging, cancer development, cancer stem cells and microRNAs

James A. McCubrey1, Kvin Lertpiriyapong2, Linda S. Steelman1, Steve L. Abrams1, Li V. Yang3, Ramiro M. Murata1,4, Pedro L. Rosalen5, Aurora Scalisi6, Luca M. Neri7, Lucio Cocco8, Stefano Ratti8, Alberto M. Martelli8, Piotr Laidler9, Joanna Dulińska-Litewka9, Dariusz Rakus10, Agnieszka Gizak10, Paolo Lombardi11, Ferdinando Nicoletti12, Saverio Candido12, Massimo Libra12, Giuseppe Montalto13,14, Melchiorre Cervello14
  • 1Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, USA
  • 2Department of Comparative Medicine, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, USA
  • 3Department of Internal Medicine, Hematology/Oncology Section, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, USA
  • 4Department of Foundational Sciences, School of Dental Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27834, USA
  • 5Department of Physiological Sciences, Piracicaba Dental School, State University of Campinas, Piracicaba, Brazil
  • 6Unit of Oncologic Diseases, ASP-Catania, Catania 95100, Italy
  • 7Department of Morphology, Surgery and Experimental Medicine, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
  • 8Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Neuromotorie, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
  • 9Chair of Medical Biochemistry, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland
  • 10Department of Animal Molecular Physiology and Neurobiology, Wroclaw University, Wroclaw, Poland
  • 11Naxospharma, Novate Milanese 20026, Italy
  • 12Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Oncological, Clinical and General Pathology Section, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
  • 13Biomedical Department of Internal Medicine and Specialties, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
  • 14Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Biomedicina e Immunologia Molecolare “Alberto Monroy”, Palermo, Italy
Received: May 19, 2017Accepted: June 4, 2017Published: June 12, 2017

Copyright: © 2017 McCubrey et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Natural products or nutraceuticals have been shown to elicit anti-aging, anti-cancer and other health-enhancing effects. A key target of the effects of natural products may be the regulation of microRNA (miR) expression which results in cell death or prevents aging, diabetes, cardiovascular and other diseases. This review will focus on a few natural products, especially on resveratrol (RES), curcumin (CUR) and berberine (BBR). RES is obtained from the skins of grapes and other fruits and berries. RES may extend human lifespan by activating the sirtuins and SIRT1 molecules. CUR is isolated from the root of turmeric (Curcuma longa). CUR is currently used in the treatment of many disorders, especially in those involving an inflammatory process. CUR and modified derivatives have been shown to have potent anti-cancer effects, especially on cancer stem cells (CSC). BBR is also isolated from various plants (e.g., Coptis chinensis) and has been used for centuries in traditional medicine to treat diseases such as adult- onset diabetes. Understanding the benefits of these and other nutraceuticals may result in approaches to improve human health.