Prasad N Rajendra, Muthusamy Ganesan, Shanmugam Mohana, Ambudkar Suresh V
Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar Tamilnadu 608002, India.
Laboratory of Cell Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Cancers (Basel). 2016 Mar 5;8(3):32. doi: 10.3390/cancers8030032.
Cancer is a hyperproliferative disorder that involves transformation, dysregulation of apoptosis, proliferation, invasion, angiogenesis and metastasis. During the last 30 years, extensive research has revealed much about the biology of cancer. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are the mainstays of cancer treatment, particularly for patients who do not respond to surgical resection. However, cancer treatment with drugs or radiation is seriously limited by chemoresistance and radioresistance. Various approaches and strategies are employed to overcome resistance to chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Many plant-derived phytochemicals have been investigated for their chemo- and radio-sensitizing properties. The peoples of South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan have a large number of medicinal plants from which they produce various pharmacologically potent secondary metabolites. The medicinal properties of these compounds have been extensively investigated and many of them have been found to sensitize cancer cells to chemo- and radio-therapy. This review focuses on the role of South Asian medicinal compounds in chemo- and radio-sensitizing properties in drug- and radio-resistant cancer cells. Also discussed is the role of South Asian medicinal plants in protecting normal cells from radiation, which may be useful during radiotherapy of tumors to spare surrounding normal cells.
癌症是一种过度增殖性疾病，涉及细胞转化、细胞凋亡失调、增殖、侵袭、血管生成和转移。在过去30年里，广泛的研究揭示了许多关于癌症生物学的知识。化疗和放疗是癌症治疗的主要手段，尤其是对于那些无法进行手术切除的患者。然而，药物或放疗治疗癌症受到化疗耐药性和放疗抵抗性的严重限制。人们采用了各种方法和策略来克服对化疗和放疗的耐药性。许多植物来源的植物化学物质因其化学增敏和放射增敏特性而受到研究。印度、巴基斯坦、斯里兰卡、尼泊尔、孟加拉国和不丹等南亚国家的人们拥有大量药用植物，从中生产出各种具有药理活性的次生代谢产物。这些化合物的药用特性已得到广泛研究，其中许多已被发现可使癌细胞对化疗和放疗敏感。本综述重点关注南亚药用化合物在耐药和放疗抵抗癌细胞中的化学增敏和放射增敏特性中的作用。还讨论了南亚药用植物在保护正常细胞免受辐射方面的作用，这在肿瘤放疗期间保护周围正常细胞可能是有用的。
