Choudhari Amit S, Mandave Pallavi C, Deshpande Manasi, Ranjekar Prabhakar, Prakash Om
Combi-Chem Bio-Resource Center, Organic Chemistry Division, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India.
Interactive Research School of Health Affairs, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, Pune, India.
Front Pharmacol. 2020 Jan 28;10:1614. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2019.01614. eCollection 2019.
Cancer is a severe health problem that continues to be a leading cause of death worldwide. Increasing knowledge of the molecular mechanisms underlying cancer progression has led to the development of a vast number of anticancer drugs. However, the use of chemically synthesized drugs has not significantly improved the overall survival rate over the past few decades. As a result, new strategies and novel chemoprevention agents are needed to complement current cancer therapies to improve efficiency. Naturally occurring compounds from plants known as phytochemicals, serve as vital resources for novel drugs and are also sources for cancer therapy. Some typical examples include taxol analogs, vinca alkaloids such as vincristine, vinblastine, and podophyllotoxin analogs. These phytochemicals often act regulating molecular pathways which are implicated in growth and progression of cancer. The specific mechanisms include increasing antioxidant status, carcinogen inactivation, inhibiting proliferation, induction of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis; and regulation of the immune system. The primary objective of this review is to describe what we know to date of the active compounds in the natural products, along with their pharmacologic action and molecular or specific targets. Recent trends and gaps in phytochemical based anticancer drug discovery are also explored. The authors wish to expand the phytochemical research area not only for their scientific soundness but also for their potential druggability. Hence, the emphasis is given to information about anticancer phytochemicals which are evaluated at preclinical and clinical level.
癌症是一个严重的健康问题，仍然是全球主要的死亡原因。对癌症进展潜在分子机制的认识不断增加，导致了大量抗癌药物的开发。然而，在过去几十年里，化学合成药物的使用并没有显著提高总体生存率。因此，需要新的策略和新型化学预防剂来补充当前的癌症治疗方法，以提高疗效。来自植物的天然化合物，即植物化学物质，是新药的重要资源，也是癌症治疗的来源。一些典型的例子包括紫杉醇类似物、长春花生物碱如长春新碱、长春碱和鬼臼毒素类似物。这些植物化学物质通常通过调节与癌症生长和进展相关的分子途径发挥作用。具体机制包括提高抗氧化状态、使致癌物失活、抑制增殖、诱导细胞周期停滞和凋亡，以及调节免疫系统。本综述的主要目的是描述我们目前对天然产物中活性化合物的了解，以及它们的药理作用和分子或特定靶点。还探讨了基于植物化学物质的抗癌药物发现的最新趋势和差距。作者希望扩大植物化学研究领域，不仅因为其科学合理性，还因为其潜在的成药可能性。因此，重点是关于在临床前和临床水平进行评估的抗癌植物化学物质的信息。
