Key Laboratory of Modern Preparation of Chinese Medicine, Ministry of Education, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, China.
Key Laboratory of Pharmacodynamics and Safety Evaluation, Health Commission of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang Medical College, Nanchang 330006, China.
Molecules. 2022 Nov 30;27(23):8367. doi: 10.3390/molecules27238367.
Natural products have been an invaluable and useful source of anticancer agents over the years. Several compounds have been synthesized from natural products by modifying their structures or by using naturally occurring compounds as building blocks in the synthesis of these compounds for various purposes in different fields, such as biology, medicine, and engineering. Multiple modern and costly treatments have been applied to combat cancer and limit its lethality, but the results are not significantly refreshing. Natural products, which are a significant source of new therapeutic drugs, are currently being investigated as potential cytotoxic agents and have shown a positive trend in preclinical research and have prompted numerous innovative strategies in order to combat cancer and expedite the clinical research. Natural products are becoming increasingly important for drug discovery due to their high molecular diversity and novel biofunctionality. Furthermore, natural products can provide superior efficacy and safety due to their unique molecular properties. The objective of the current review is to provide an overview of the emergence of natural products for the treatment and prevention of cancer, such as chemosensitizers, immunotherapeutics, combinatorial therapies with other anticancer drugs, novel formulations of natural products, and the molecular mechanisms underlying their anticancer properties.
多年来，天然产物一直是抗癌药物的宝贵且有用的来源。已经有几种化合物通过修饰其结构或使用天然存在的化合物作为构建块来合成这些化合物，以满足生物学、医学和工程等不同领域的各种目的。已经应用了多种现代且昂贵的治疗方法来对抗癌症并降低其致命性，但结果并不显著。目前，天然产物作为新治疗药物的重要来源，正被作为潜在的细胞毒性剂进行研究，并在临床前研究中显示出积极的趋势，同时为了对抗癌症和加速临床研究，已经提出了许多创新策略。由于天然产物具有高分子多样性和新颖的生物功能，因此它们在药物发现方面变得越来越重要。此外，由于其独特的分子特性，天然产物可以提供更好的疗效和安全性。本综述的目的是概述天然产物在癌症治疗和预防方面的应用，如化疗增敏剂、免疫疗法、与其他抗癌药物的联合治疗、天然产物的新制剂以及其抗癌特性的分子机制。
