Ailanthone: A novel potential drug for treating human cancer (Review)

Abstract

Cancer is the second leading cause of death after cardiovascular disease. In 2015, >8.7 million people died worldwide due to cancer, and by 2030 this figure is expected to increase to ~13.1 million. Tumor chemotherapy drugs have specific toxicity and side effects, and patients can also develop secondary drug resistance. To prevent and treat cancer, scientists have developed novel drugs with improved antitumor effects and decreased toxicity. Ailanthone (AIL) is a quassinoid extract from the traditional Chinese medicine plant Ailanthus altissima , which is known to have anti-inflammatory and antimalarial effects. An increasing number of studies have focused on AIL due to its antitumor activity. AIL can inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis by up- or downregulating cancer-associated molecules, which ultimately leads to cancer cell death. Antitumor effects of AIL have been observed in melanoma, acute myeloid leukemia, bladder, lung, breast, gastric and prostate cancer and vestibular neurilemmoma. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first review to describe the antitumor mechanisms of AIL.

Two Novel Quassinoid Glycosides with Antiviral Activity from the Samara of Ailanthus altissima

“…The quassinoids previously obtained from the samara of A. altissima can generally be classified as the C-6 or C-15 substituted derivatives of chaparrione and ailanthone, as well as their monoglycosides [13]. Ailanthone is the best known bioactive secondary metabolite isolated from A. altissima, which displays multiple pharmacological properties, in particular significant antitumor effects against a variety of cancer cell lines in vitro [29,30]. Two more C 20 quassinoid glycosides were reported based on our current findings, among which chuglycoside J wears a keto group in C-12, which, in the case of quassinoids from A. altissima, usually appears as a hydroxy substituted group, while chuglycoside K was the only one diglycoside we obtained from the extract of the samara of A. altissima.…”

Insights into the Bioactivities and Chemical Analysis of Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle

“…Several studies with the dried bark, show that its active compounds exert antitumor effects in several cell lines, for example in A549, MDA-MB-231, LAPC4, A375, B16, and SGC-7901 among others. These in vitro studies lead us to state that ailanthone specifically may be a good inhibitor for cancers such as melanoma, acute myeloid leukaemia, lung, liver, breast, bladder, osteosarcoma, and prostate cancer [22,64,65]. In the work of Ding et al [65] the different mechanisms of the action of ailanthone that justify its inhibitory effects were described and explained.…”

“…These in vitro studies lead us to state that ailanthone specifically may be a good inhibitor for cancers such as melanoma, acute myeloid leukaemia, lung, liver, breast, bladder, osteosarcoma, and prostate cancer [22,64,65]. In the work of Ding et al [65] the different mechanisms of the action of ailanthone that justify its inhibitory effects were described and explained. The main basis of these effects is the mechanism of apoptosis.…”

The Anthelmintic Quassinoids Ailanthone and Bruceine a Induce Infertility in the Model Organism Caenorhabditis elegans by an Apoptosis-like Mechanism Induced in Gonadal and Spermathecal Tissues

“…The family Simaroubaceae is altogether known for a variety of genera investigated for their medicinal properties (e.g., the genus Eurycoma for antimicrobial, anti-plasmodial or anti-fungal properties [ 7 ], the genus Picrasma for anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer or anti-viral effects [ 8 ] or the genus Quassia for anti-plasmodial effects [ 9 ]). In general, quassinoids are a class of terpenoid-like natural products and are commonly known for a diversity of promising biological activities [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. These degraded triterpenes can be structurally diversified by having either a C-18, C-19, C-20, C-22, or a C-25 skeleton [ 14 ], and the majority of quassinoids exerting interesting bioactivities typically contains a δ-lactone and a methylenoxy bridge between C-8 and C-11 (e.g., ailanthone, Figure 1 ( 1 )) or C-8 and C-13 (e.g., bruceine A, Figure 1 ( 2 )) [ 15 ].…”