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Recent Studies on Anticancer Agents from Natural Products

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A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Medicinal Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2023) | Viewed by 10641

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jin-Jian Lu

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Guest Editor

State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao 999078, China
Interests: natural products; lung cancer; combination therapy; autophagy; immune microenvironment; resistance

Prof. Dr. Hong Zhu

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Guest Editor

College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Interests: new target; drug candidates; post-translational modification; primary liver cancer; colon cancer

Dr. Yan-Fang Xian

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Guest Editor

School of Chinese Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Interests: Chinese medicine; pancreatic cancer; prostate cancer; herb-drug interaction; resistance
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cancer is still a global public health issue that imposes a great threat to the public health. Thanks to the success of chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy in recent years, the survival rate of patients with advanced tumors has been greatly improved, but challenges still remain. Natural products are compounds extracted and isolated from plants, animals, microorganisms, etc., which have historically played an important role in cancer therapy. Based on the core structure of the natural products, chemists have obtained valuable anti-cancer drugs by structural modification, such as paclitaxel and irinotecan. In addition to directly killing cancer cells, natural products also exert anti-cancer effects by regulating the tumor immune microenvironment and affecting the intestinal microbiome. Moreover, the combined use of natural products and clinical drugs shows good prospects either to increase efficacy or reduce side effects. In this Special Issue entitled "Recent Studies on Anticancer Agents from Natural Products”, we sincerely invite authors to submit their research results to us in the form of research articles and reviews, hoping to bring readers the latest research progress in this field.

Dr. Jin-Jian Lu
Prof. Dr. Hong Zhu
Dr. Yan-Fang Xian
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

natural products
cancer
cell death
metastasis
immune microenvironment
gut microbiome
combination therapy
resistance

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 2836 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Icaritin Derivative IC2 Induces Cytoprotective Autophagy of Breast Cancer Cells via SCD1 Inhibition

by Yi-Xuan Wang, Yi-Yuan Jin, Jie Wang, Zi-Cheng Zhao, Ke-Wen Xue, He Xiong, Hui-Lian Che, Yun-Jun Ge and Guo-Sheng Wu

Molecules 2023, 28(3), 1109; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28031109 - 22 Jan 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1740

Abstract

Breast cancer is one of the most prevalent malignancies and the leading cause of cancer-associated mortality in China. Icaritin (ICT), a prenyl flavonoid derived from the Epimedium Genus, has been proven to inhibit the proliferation and stemness of breast cancer cells. Our previous study demonstrated that IC2, a derivative of ICT, could induce breast cancer cell apoptosis by Stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1) inhibition. The present study further investigated the mechanism of the inhibitory effects of IC2 on breast cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Our results proved that IC2 could stimulate autophagy in breast cancer cells with the activation of adenosine monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling. Combination treatment of the AMPK inhibitor decreased IC2-induced autophagy while it markedly enhanced IC2-induced apoptosis. In common with IC2-induced apoptosis, SCD1 overexpression or the addition of exogenous oleic acid (OA) could also alleviate IC2-induced autophagy. In vivo assays additionally demonstrated that IC2 treatment markedly inhibited tumor growth in a mouse breast cancer xenograft model. Overall, our study was the first to demonstrate that IC2 induced cytoprotective autophagy by SCD1 inhibition in breast cancer cells and that the autophagy inhibitor markedly enhanced the anticancer activity of IC2. Therefore, IC2 was a potential candidate compound in combination therapy for breast cancer. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Studies on Anticancer Agents from Natural Products)

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14 pages, 2255 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparison of Ophiopogon japonicus and Liriope spicata var. prolifera from Different Origins Based on Multi-Component Quantification and Anticancer Activity

by Min-Hui Chen, Fong Leong, Si-Jia Gao, Xin Chen, Jin-Jian Lu, Li-Gen Lin, Yitao Wang and Xiao-Jia Chen

Molecules 2023, 28(3), 1045; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28031045 - 20 Jan 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1667

Abstract

The tuberous root of Ophiopogon japonicus (Thunb.) Ker-Gawl. is a well-known Chinese medicine also called Maidong (MD) in Chinese. It could be divided into “Chuanmaidong” (CMD) and “Zhemaidong” (ZMD), according to the geographic origins. Meanwhile, the root of Liriope spicata (Thunb.) Lour. var. prolifera Y. T. Ma (SMD) is occasionally used as a substitute for MD in the market. In this study, a reliable pressurized liquid extraction and HPLC-DAD-ELSD method was developed for the simultaneous determination of nine chemical components, including four steroidal saponins (ophiopojaponin C, ophiopogonin D, liriopesides B and ophiopogonin D’), four homoisoflavonoids (methylophiopogonone A, methylophiopogonone B, methylophiopogonanone A and methylophiopogonanone B) and one sapogenin (ruscogenin) in CMD, ZMD and SMD. The method was validated in terms of linearity, sensitivity, precision, repeatability and accuracy, and then applied to the real samples from different origins. The results indicated that there were significant differences in the contents of the investigated compounds in CMD, ZMD and SMD. Ruscogenin was not detected in all the samples, and liriopesides B was only found in SMD samples. CMD contained higher ophiopogonin D and ophiopogonin D’, while the other compounds were more abundant in ZMD. Moreover, the anticancer effects of the herbal extracts and selected components against A2780 human ovarian cancer cells were also compared. CMD and ZMD showed similar cytotoxic effects, which were stronger than those of SMD. The effects of MD may be due to the significant anticancer potential of ophiopognin D’ and homoisoflavonoids. These results suggested that there were great differences in the chemical composition and pharmacological activity among CMD, ZMD and SMD; thus, their origins should be carefully considered in clinical application. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Studies on Anticancer Agents from Natural Products)

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Review

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33 pages, 8530 KiB

Open AccessReview

Potential of Compounds Originating from the Nature to Act in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Therapy by Targeting the Tumor Immunosuppressive Microenvironment: A Review

by Yunheng Li, Hui Li, Qiaojun He and Xiaochun Yang

Molecules 2023, 28(1), 195; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28010195 - 26 Dec 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2532

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most prevalent subtype of liver cancer, is the second main reason for cancer-related deaths worldwide. In recent decades, sufficient evidence supported that immunotherapy was a safe and effective treatment option for HCC. However, tolerance and frequent recurrence and metastasis occurred in patients after immunotherapy due to the complicated crosstalk in the tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment (TIME) in HCC. Therefore, elucidating the TIME in HCC and finding novel modulators to target TIME for attenuating immune suppression is critical to optimize immunotherapy. Recently, studies have shown the potentially immunoregulatory activities of natural compounds, characterized by multiple targets and pathways and low toxicity. In this review, we concluded the unique role of TIME in HCC. Moreover, we summarized evidence that supports the hypothesis of natural compounds to target TIME to improve immunotherapy. Furthermore, we discussed the comprehensive mechanisms of these natural compounds in the immunotherapy of HCC. Accordingly, we present a well-grounded review of the naturally occurring compounds in cancer immunotherapy, expecting to shed new light on discovering novel anti-HCC immunomodulatory drugs from natural sources. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Studies on Anticancer Agents from Natural Products)

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Graphical abstract

18 pages, 1514 KiB

Open AccessReview

Magnolol as a Potential Anticancer Agent: A Proposed Mechanistic Insight

by Xiaofeng Wang, Qingqing Liu, Yuanfeng Fu, Ren-Bo Ding, Xingzhu Qi, Xuejun Zhou, Zhihua Sun and Jiaolin Bao

Molecules 2022, 27(19), 6441; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27196441 - 29 Sep 2022

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3024

Abstract

Cancer is a serious disease with high mortality and morbidity worldwide. Natural products have served as a major source for developing new anticancer drugs during recent decades. Magnolol, a representative natural phenolic lignan isolated from Magnolia officinali, has attracted considerable attention for its anticancer properties in recent years. Accumulating preclinical studies have demonstrated the tremendous therapeutic potential of magnolol via a wide range of pharmacological mechanisms against cancer. In this review, we summarized the latest advances in preclinical studies investigating anticancer properties of magnolol and described the important signaling pathways explaining its underlying mechanisms. Magnolol was capable of inhibiting cancer growth and metastasis against various cancer types. Magnolol exerted anticancer effects through inhibiting proliferation, inducing cell cycle arrest, provoking apoptosis, restraining migration and invasion, and suppressing angiogenesis. Multiple signaling pathways were also involved in the pharmacological actions of magnolol against cancer, such as PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling, MAPK signaling and NF-κB signaling. Based on this existing evidence summarized in the review, we have conclusively confirmed magnolol had a multi-target anticancer effect against heterogeneous cancer disease. It is promising to develop magnolol as a drug candidate for cancer therapy in the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Studies on Anticancer Agents from Natural Products)

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