Curcumin changes the polarity of tumor-associated microglia and eliminates glioblastoma

Glioblastoma (GBM) is one of the most pernicious forms of cancer and currently chances of survival from this malady are extremely low. We have used the noninvasive strategy of intranasal (IN) delivery of a glioblastoma-directed adduct of curcumin (CC), CC-CD68Ab, into the brain of mouse GBM GL261-implanted mice to study the effect of CC on tumor remission and on the phenotype of the tumor-associated microglial cells (TAMs). The treatment caused tumor remission in 50% of GL261-implanted GBM mice. A similar rescue rate was also achieved through intraperitoneal infusion of a lipid-encapsulated formulation of CC, Curcumin Phytosome, into the GL261-implanted GBM mice. Most strikingly, both forms of CC elicited a dramatic change in the tumor-associated Iba1+ TAMs, suppressing the tumor-promoting Arginase1^high, iNOS^low M2-type TAM population while inducing the Arginase1^low, iNOS^high M1-type tumoricidal microglia. Concomitantly, we observed a marked induction and activation of microglial NF-kB and STAT1, which are known to function in coordination to cause induction of iNOS. Therefore, our novel findings indicate that appropriately delivered CC can directly kill GBM cells and also repolarize the TAMs to the tumoricidal M1 state.