Curcumin, a natural polyphenolic compound, has shown promising chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic activities in cancer. Although phase I clinical trials have shown curcumin as a safe drug even at high doses, poor bioavailability and suboptimal pharmacokinetics largely moderated its anti-cancer activity in pre-clinical and clinical models. To improve its applicability in cancer therapy, we encapsulated curcumin in poly(lactic-co-glycolide) (PLGA) (biodegradable polymer) nanoparticles, in the presence of poly(vinyl alcohol) and poly(L-lysine) stabilizers, using a nano-precipitation technique. These curcumin nano-formulations were characterized for particle size, zeta potential, drug encapsulation, drug compatibility and drug release. Encapsulated curcumin existed in a highly dispersed state in the PLGA core of the nanoparticles and exhibited good solid-solid compatibility. An optimized curcumin nano-formulation (nano-CUR6) has demonstrated two and sixfold increases in the cellular uptake performed in cisplatin resistant A2780CP ovarian and metastatic MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells, respectively, compared to free curcumin. In these cells, nano-CUR6 has shown an improved anti-cancer potential in cell proliferation and clonogenic assays compared to free curcumin. This effect was correlated with enhanced apoptosis induced by the nano-CUR6 formulation. Herein, we have also shown antibody conjugation compatibility of our PLGA-NP formulation. Results of this study suggest that therapeutic efficacy of curcumin may be enhanced by such PLGA nanoparticle formulations, and furthermore tumor specific targeted delivery of curcumin is made feasible by coupling of anti-cancer antibody to the NPs. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.