Curcumin is a yellow-orange dye obtained from tumeric， the powdered root of Curcuma longa； it is employed in the preparation of curcuma paper， the detection of boron， and possesses a vast number of biological targets. Curcumin has been shown to inhibit NF-κB （possibly thru inhibition of JNK； IC50=10 uM）， blocks amyloid peptide induced expression of: TNF-α， IL-1β， MCP-1， IL-8， and CCR5， regulates NOS2， inhibits IgE and Ag-induced degranulation of mast cells， inhibits 5-LO （5-lipoxygenase； IC50=8 uM）， Cox-2 （cyclooxygenase-2； IC50=52 uM）， the COP9 signalosome kinase （IC50=10 uM）， and p300/CBP. This wide range of activities makes Curcumin an extremely useful tool for developing novel analogous molecules and discovering new uses for this naturally occurring compound.
