Kumar Ajay, Singh Brahmjot, Sharma Pooja, Raina Ritu, Sharma Bunty, Haque Shafiul, Tuli Hardeep Singh
University Center for Research and Development (UCRD), Chandigarh University, Gharuan, Mohali, 140413, Punjab, India.
Department of Physiotherapy, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, 125001, Haryana, India.
Med Oncol. 2025 Aug 1;42(9):397. doi: 10.1007/s12032-025-02947-3.
Gastrointestinal cancers represent a considerable global public health burden, due to their high incidence, poor prognosis, and resistance to conventional therapies. Traditional treatments like chemotherapy and radiation often produce side effects and limited efficacy, making targeted therapies even more necessary. Diosgenin, a naturally steroidal saponin found in Dioscorea species, has gained widespread acclaim as an anticancer agent due to its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and cancer-fighting properties. This review presents an organ-specific assessment of diosgenin's anticancer properties against various gastrointestinal cancers, such as esophageal, gastric, colorectal, pancreatic, and liver. Although numerous reviews have addressed diosgenin's anticancer potential, ours stands out by offering an in-depth disease-specific mechanistic analysis, while taking advantage of recent advances in nanotechnology for optimizing its pharmacokinetics and bioavailability. Key highlights include diosgenin's synergistic interactions with cancer pathways such as Wnt/b-catenin, STAT3, and NF-kB-aspects not fully examined in previous reviews. Diosgenin's potential use in combination therapies with chemotherapeutics is also explored, including its clinical readiness as well as potential challenges such as bioavailability and solubility. Diosgenin has shown significant promise in preclinical studies; however, human cancer therapies require clinical trials to ascertain its safety and efficacy in human cancer treatments. This review offers a comprehensive perspective of diosgenin's mechanisms, nanomedicine innovations, and translational prospects-representing an essential step toward understanding its role in gastrointestinal cancers.
胃肠道癌症是全球公共卫生的重大负担，因其发病率高、预后差且对传统疗法耐药。化疗和放疗等传统治疗方法往往会产生副作用且疗效有限，因此靶向治疗显得更为必要。薯蓣皂苷元是在薯蓣属植物中发现的一种天然甾体皂苷，因其具有抗炎、抗氧化和抗癌特性，作为一种抗癌剂已广受赞誉。本综述对薯蓣皂苷元针对各种胃肠道癌症（如食管癌、胃癌、结直肠癌、胰腺癌和肝癌）的抗癌特性进行了器官特异性评估。尽管已有众多综述探讨了薯蓣皂苷元的抗癌潜力，但我们的综述脱颖而出之处在于提供了深入的疾病特异性机制分析，同时利用纳米技术的最新进展来优化其药代动力学和生物利用度。主要亮点包括薯蓣皂苷元与Wnt/β-连环蛋白、信号转导和转录激活因子3（STAT3）以及核因子κB（NF-κB）等癌症信号通路的协同相互作用，这些方面在以往综述中并未得到充分研究。还探讨了薯蓣皂苷元与化疗药物联合治疗的潜在用途，包括其临床应用准备情况以及生物利用度和溶解度等潜在挑战。薯蓣皂苷元在临床前研究中已显示出巨大潜力；然而，人类癌症治疗需要临床试验来确定其在人类癌症治疗中的安全性和有效性。本综述全面介绍了薯蓣皂苷元的作用机制、纳米医学创新和转化前景，是理解其在胃肠道癌症中作用的重要一步。
