Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna, Department of Pharmacology, Via Irnerio 48, 40126 Bologna, Italy.
Expert Opin Drug Metab Toxicol. 2012 Jul;8(7):819-32. doi: 10.1517/17425255.2012.685717. Epub 2012 Apr 27.
Cancer is a complex disease, characterized by redundant aberrant signaling pathways as a result of genetic perturbations at different levels. Botanicals consist of a complex mixture of constituents and exhibit pharmacological effects by the interaction of many phytochemicals. The multitarget nature of botanicals could, therefore, be a relevant strategy to address the biological complexity that characterizes tumors.
This article reviews the current status of botanicals in the oncological field and the challenges associated with their complex nature.
Botanicals are an important new pharmacological strategy, which are potentially exploitable in the oncological area but are characterized by a number of problems still unresolved. Content variation of products is one of the primary problems with botanicals and, consequently, there is a concern about the therapeutic consistency in marketed batches. Furthermore, metabolic interactions with antineoplastic drugs and the genotoxic potential of botanicals need to be properly addressed throughout the various phases of botanical drug development. These issues not only pose a serious problem to the approvability of those botanical products as new drugs but also present as a limitation to their post-approval clinical use.
癌症是一种复杂的疾病，其特征是由于不同层面的遗传干扰导致冗余的异常信号通路。植物药由多种成分组成的复杂混合物组成，并通过许多植物化学物质的相互作用发挥药理作用。因此，植物药的多靶点特性可能是应对肿瘤生物学复杂性的一种相关策略。
本文综述了植物药在肿瘤学领域的现状以及与其复杂特性相关的挑战。
植物药是一种重要的新的药理学策略，在肿瘤学领域具有潜在的可开发性，但存在许多尚未解决的问题。产品的含量变化是植物药的主要问题之一，因此，人们担心市售批次的治疗一致性。此外，与抗肿瘤药物的代谢相互作用以及植物药的遗传毒性潜力需要在植物药开发的各个阶段得到妥善解决。这些问题不仅对这些植物药产品作为新药的可批准性构成严重问题，而且对其批准后的临床应用也构成限制。
