Cucurbitacins as potential anticancer agents: new insights on molecular mechanisms

Journal of Translational Medicine

Review

Carla Varela¹  Catarina Melim²  Beatriz G. Neves²  Célia Cabral³  Assem Mamurova⁴  Daniela Calina⁵  Javad Sharifi-Rad⁶ 

[1] Chemical Process Engineering and Forest Products (CIEPQPF), Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal;Coimbra Institute for Clinical and Biomedical Research (iCBR), Clinic Academic Center of Coimbra (CACC), Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal;Center for Innovative Biomedicine and Biotechnology (CIBB), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal;Coimbra Institute for Clinical and Biomedical Research (iCBR), Clinic Academic Center of Coimbra (CACC), Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal;Center for Innovative Biomedicine and Biotechnology (CIBB), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal;Coimbra Institute for Clinical and Biomedical Research (iCBR), Clinic Academic Center of Coimbra (CACC), Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal;Center for Innovative Biomedicine and Biotechnology (CIBB), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal;Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal;Department of Biodiversity of Bioresources, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan;Department of Clinical Pharmacy, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, 200349, Craiova, Romania;Facultad de Medicina, Universidad del Azuay, Cuenca, Ecuador;

关键词: Cucurbitacins;    Chemical synthesis;    Malignant tumor;    Chemoprevention;    Anticancer mechanisms;    Molecular targets;    Apoptosis;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12967-022-03828-3

 received in 2022-09-10, accepted in 2022-12-11,  发布年份 2022

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

Since ancient times, plants have been an extensive reservoir of bioactive compounds with therapeutic interest for new drug development and clinical application. Cucurbitacins are a compelling example of these drug leads, primarily present in the plant kingdom, especially in the Cucurbitaceae family. However, these natural compounds are also known in several genera within other plant families. Beyond the Cucurbitaceae family, they are also present in other plant families, as well as in some fungi and one shell-less marine mollusc. Despite the natural abundance of cucurbitacins in different natural species, their obtaining and isolation is limited, as a result, an increase in their chemical synthesis has been developed by researchers. Data on cucurbitacins and their anticancer activities were collected from databases such as PubMed/MedLine, TRIP database, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect and the information was arranged sequentially for a better understanding of the antitumor potential. The results of the studies showed that cucurbitacins have significant biological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimalarial, antimicrobial, hepatoprotective and antitumor potential. In conclusion, there are several studies, both in vitro and in vivo reporting this important anticancer/chemopreventive potential; hence a comprehensive review on this topic is recommended for future clinical research.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2022

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