Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Kralove, Charles University in Prague, Šimkova 870, Hradec Králové, 500 01, Czech Republic.
Phytother Res. 2014 Jun;28(6):798-810. doi: 10.1002/ptr.5070. Epub 2013 Oct 3.
Many species of seedless vascular plants-ferns and lycopods-have been used as food and folk medicine since ancient times. Some of them have become the focus of intensive research concerning their anticancer properties. Studies on the anticancer effect of crude extracts are being increasingly replaced by bioactivity-guided fractionation, as well as detailed assessment of the mechanism of action. Numerous compounds-especially flavonoids such as amentoflavone and protoapigenone, and also simpler phenolic compounds, steroids, alkaloids and terpenoids-were isolated and found to be cytotoxic, particularly pro-apoptotic, or to induce cell cycle arrest in cancer cell lines in vitro. In in vivo experiments, some fern-derived compounds inhibited tumour growth with little toxicity. On the other hand, many ferns-not only the well-known Bracken (Pteridium)-may pose a significant hazard to human health due to the fact that they contain carcinogenic sesquiterpenoids and their analogues. The objective of this review is to summarise the recent state of research on the anticancer properties of ferns and lycopods, with a focus on their characteristic bioactive constituents. The carcinogenic hazard posed by ferns is also mentioned.
自古以来，许多无种子维管植物（蕨类植物和石松类植物）就被用作食物和民间药物。其中一些已成为研究其抗癌特性的重点。对粗提取物的抗癌作用的研究正越来越多地被基于生物活性的分级分离以及对作用机制的详细评估所取代。许多化合物，特别是类黄酮如穗花杉双黄酮和原花青素，以及更简单的酚类化合物、甾体、生物碱和萜类化合物，被分离出来并发现具有细胞毒性，特别是促凋亡作用，或在体外诱导癌细胞系的细胞周期停滞。在体内实验中，一些蕨类植物来源的化合物在抑制肿瘤生长的同时几乎没有毒性。另一方面，许多蕨类植物（不仅是著名的蕨类植物（Pteridium））由于它们含有致癌的倍半萜类化合物及其类似物，可能对人类健康构成重大危害。本文综述了蕨类植物和石松类植物抗癌特性的最新研究进展，重点介绍了它们的特征生物活性成分。还提到了蕨类植物带来的致癌危害。
