Kamran Sareh, Sinniah Ajantha, Abdulghani Mahfoudh A M, Alshawsh Mohammed Abdullah
Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia.
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Unaizah College of Pharmacy, Qassim University, Al Qassim 51911, Saudi Arabia.
Cancers (Basel). 2022 Feb 22;14(5):1100. doi: 10.3390/cancers14051100.
Cancer is a life-threatening disease and is considered to be among the leading causes of death worldwide. Chemoresistance, severe toxicity, relapse and metastasis are the major obstacles in cancer therapy. Therefore, introducing new therapeutic agents for cancer remains a priority to increase the range of effective treatments. Terpenoids, a large group of secondary metabolites, are derived from plant sources and are composed of several isoprene units. The high diversity of terpenoids has drawn attention to their potential anticancer and pharmacological activities. Some terpenoids exhibit an anticancer effect by triggering various stages of cancer progression, for example, suppressing the early stage of tumorigenesis via induction of cell cycle arrest, inhibiting cancer cell differentiation and activating apoptosis. At the late stage of cancer development, certain terpenoids are able to inhibit angiogenesis and metastasis via modulation of different intracellular signaling pathways. Significant progress in the identification of the mechanism of action and signaling pathways through which terpenoids exert their anticancer effects has been highlighted. Hence, in this review, the anticancer activities of twenty-five terpenoids are discussed in detail. In addition, this review provides insights on the current clinical trials and future directions towards the development of certain terpenoids as potential anticancer agents.
癌症是一种危及生命的疾病，被认为是全球主要死因之一。化疗耐药、严重毒性、复发和转移是癌症治疗的主要障碍。因此，引入新的癌症治疗药物仍然是扩大有效治疗范围的首要任务。萜类化合物是一大类次生代谢产物，来源于植物，由几个异戊二烯单元组成。萜类化合物的高度多样性使其潜在的抗癌和药理活性受到关注。一些萜类化合物通过触发癌症进展的各个阶段发挥抗癌作用，例如，通过诱导细胞周期停滞抑制肿瘤发生的早期阶段，抑制癌细胞分化并激活细胞凋亡。在癌症发展的后期，某些萜类化合物能够通过调节不同的细胞内信号通路抑制血管生成和转移。萜类化合物发挥抗癌作用的作用机制和信号通路的鉴定取得了重大进展。因此，在本综述中，详细讨论了25种萜类化合物的抗癌活性。此外，本综述还提供了有关当前临床试验以及将某些萜类化合物开发为潜在抗癌药物的未来方向的见解。
