Unravelling the potential of nanocarriers to deliver Curcumin for the management of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) yet remains the most widely faced autoimmune disorder worldwide. Progression of RA has been linked with debilitating effects on various organ systems along with major damage to bones, cartilages and joints. The conventional dosage forms for the management of RA has a number of drawbacks, such as high doses, frequent administration, limited delivery to the site of action, and off target effects. Various herbal compounds have been explored by the researchers that shows significant effect against RA. Curcumin, a naturally occurring compound due to its potent anti-inflammatory activity, has been widely studied for RA. Regardless of its promising pharmacological activities, developing a formulation for targeting specific receptors and target proteins becomes increasingly challenging. Clinical efficacy of curcumin is hampered due to its physicochemical properties such as poor solubility, chemical instability, low bioavailability and rapid degradation. Nanotechnology has been of a great importance as it has allowed researchers to load curcumin in variety of nanocarriers to enhance the bioavailability, permeability and prevent its degradation in the physiological conditions. This review is focused on various nanoformulations of curcumin that have been developed to combat the issues faced during administering curcumin for the management of RA.