College of Pharmacy, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
Holistic Integrative Pharmacy Institutes, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China; Key Laboratory of Elemene Class Anti-Cancer Chinese Medicine of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China; Engineering Laboratory of Development and Application of Traditional Chinese Medicine from Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
Biomed Pharmacother. 2019 Jun;114:108812. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2019.108812. Epub 2019 Apr 6.
β-Elemene is a sesquiterpene compound extracted from the herb Curcuma Rhizoma and is used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to treat several types of cancer, with no reported severe adverse effects. Recent studies, using in vitro and in vivo studies combined with molecular methods, have shown that β-elemene can inhibit cell proliferation, arrest the cell cycle, and induce cell apoptosis. Recent studies have identified the molecular targets of β-elemene that may have a role in cancer therapy. This review aims to discuss the anticancer potential of β-elemene through its actions on several molecular targets including kinase enzymes, transcription factors, growth factors and their receptors, and proteins. β-Elemene also regulates the expression of several key molecules that are involved in tumor angiogenesis and metastasis including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), E-cadherin, N-cadherin, and vimentin. Also, β-elemene has been shown to have regulatory effects on the immune response and increases the sensitivity of cancer cells to chemoradiotherapy and has shown effects on multidrug resistance (MDR) in malignancy. Recent studies have shown that β-elemene can induce autophagy, which prevents cancer cells from undergoing apoptosis. Therefore, the molecular mechanisms for the treatment effects on cancer of the herbal extract, β-elemene, which has been used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine, are now being studied and identified.
β-榄香烯是从莪术根茎中提取的一种倍半萜烯化合物，用于治疗几种类型的癌症，据报道没有严重的不良反应。最近的研究使用体外和体内研究结合分子方法表明，β-榄香烯可以抑制细胞增殖、阻滞细胞周期并诱导细胞凋亡。最近的研究已经确定了β-榄香烯的分子靶点，这些靶点可能在癌症治疗中起作用。本综述旨在通过其对几种分子靶点的作用来讨论β-榄香烯的抗癌潜力，包括激酶酶、转录因子、生长因子及其受体和蛋白质。β-榄香烯还调节参与肿瘤血管生成和转移的几个关键分子的表达，包括血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）、基质金属蛋白酶（MMPs）、E-钙黏蛋白、N-钙黏蛋白和波形蛋白。此外，β-榄香烯已被证明对免疫反应具有调节作用，增加了癌细胞对化疗和放疗的敏感性，并对恶性肿瘤的多药耐药（MDR）有影响。最近的研究表明，β-榄香烯可以诱导自噬，从而防止癌细胞发生凋亡。因此，用于治疗癌症的草药提取物β-榄香烯的分子机制，在传统中医中已经使用了几个世纪，目前正在进行研究和鉴定。
