Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Louisville School of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40202, USA.
Center for Predictive Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40202, USA.
Biomed Res Int. 2020 May 15;2020:1631394. doi: 10.1155/2020/1631394. eCollection 2020.
Cancer remains a global health challenge, with high morbidity and mortality, despite the recent advances in diagnosis and treatment. Multiple compounds assessed as novel potential anticancer drugs derive from natural sources, including microorganisms, plants, and animals. Lectins, a group of highly diverse proteins of nonimmune origin with carbohydrate-binding abilities, have been detected in virtually all kingdoms of life. These proteins can interact with free and/or cell surface oligosaccharides and might differentially bind cancer cells, since malignant transformation is tightly associated with altered cell surface glycans. Therefore, lectins could represent a valuable tool for cancer diagnosis and be developed as anticancer therapeutics. Indeed, several plant lectins exert cytotoxic effects mainly by inducing apoptotic and autophagic pathways in malignant cells. This review summarizes the current knowledge regarding the basis for the use of lectins in cancer diagnosis and therapy, providing a few examples of plant-derived carbohydrate-binding proteins with demonstrated antitumor effects.
癌症仍然是一个全球性的健康挑战，尽管近年来在诊断和治疗方面取得了进展，但发病率和死亡率仍然很高。许多被评估为新型潜在抗癌药物的化合物来自天然来源，包括微生物、植物和动物。凝集素是一类具有碳水化合物结合能力的高度多样化的非免疫来源蛋白质，几乎存在于所有生命领域。这些蛋白质可以与游离的和/或细胞表面的低聚糖相互作用，并且可能不同程度地与癌细胞结合，因为恶性转化与细胞表面糖链的改变密切相关。因此，凝集素可以作为癌症诊断的有价值的工具，并开发为抗癌治疗药物。事实上，一些植物凝集素通过诱导恶性细胞中的凋亡和自噬途径发挥细胞毒性作用。本文综述了目前关于凝集素在癌症诊断和治疗中应用的基础的知识，提供了一些具有抗肿瘤作用的已证实的植物来源糖结合蛋白的例子。
