Anti-cancer potential of flavonoids: recent trends and future perspectives

Abstract

Cancer is a major public health concern in both developed and developing countries. Several plant-derived anti-cancer agents including taxol, vinblastine, vincristine, the campothecin derivatives, topotecan, irinotecan and etoposide are in clinical use all over the world. Other promising anti-cancer agents include flavopiridol, roscovitine, combretastatin A-4, betulinic acid and silvestrol. From this list one can well imagine the predominance of polyphenols, flavonoids and their synthetic analogs in the treatment of ovarian, breast, cervical, pancreatic and prostate cancer. Flavonoids present in human diet comprise many polyphenolic secondary metabolites with broad-spectrum pharmacological activities including their potential role as anti-cancer agents. A positive correlation between flavonoids-rich diet (from vegetables and fruits) and lower risk of colon, prostate and breast cancers lead to a question that whether flavonoids mediate the protective effects as chemopreventive agents or can interact with different genes and proteins to play role in chemotherapy. The current review emphasizes onto the therapeutic potential of flavonoids and their synthetic analogs as anti-cancer agents by providing new insights into the factors, regulation and molecular mechanisms along with their significant protein interactions.

Preliminary Phytochemical Screening and Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Costus Pictus D. Don

“…[15,16] GC-MS analysis of ethanol and petroleum ether led to the identification of phytoconstituents which was confirmed based on the molecular weight (MW), molecular formula (MW), peak area and retention time (RT) ( Table 2). The spectrum profile confirmed the presence of number of phyto compounds in ethanol extract of C.pictus leaves (Fig 1) …”

Antiproliferative activity in tumor cell lines, antioxidant capacity and total phenolic, flavonoid and tannin contents of Myrciaria floribunda

“…Several studies revealed flavonoids as potential antiproliferative and antioxidant agents (Batra andSharma 2013, Weng andYen 2012). Since a previous study with the ethyl acetate extract of M. floribunda leaves reported the flavonoid myricetin-3-galoctoside as one of the main compounds (Tietbohl 2012), this prompted us to determine the total phenolic, flavonoid and tannin contents and the antioxidant capacity of M. floribunda leaves in order to correlate chemical composition with antiproliferative effect.…”

“…Chemical assays of the extract revealed a high amount of total phenolic compounds, tannin (13%) and flavonoids (24%). Therefore, it is possible to assert that antioxidant capacity and antiproliferative activity of the extract are in suitable correlation with the chemical compound contents (total phenolic compounds, tannin and flavonoids), once these classes of compounds are known as potent antioxidants and anticancer agents (Einbond et al 2004, Batra and Sharma 2013, Weng and Yen 2012, Wang et al 1997. Moreover, Tietbohl (2012) reported that the main constituent of the ethyl acetate extract of M. floribunda leaves is myricetin-3-galoctoside, which has showed an antitumor-promoting activity, and could be related to the results observed in this study (Gao et al 2002, Hayder et al 2008).…”

“…Only one previous study with M. floribunda leaves reported that its ethyl acetate extract has phenolic compounds and the flavonoid myricetin-3-galoctoside was identified as one of the main compounds (Tietbohl 2012). As flavonoids are known to be anticancer and antioxidant agents (Batra andSharma 2013, Weng andYen 2012), this prompted us to evaluate the antiproliferative activity in tumor cell lines and to determine the antioxidant capacity and the contents of total phenolic, flavonoids and tannins of the ethyl acetate extract from the leaves of M. floribunda.…”

Inhibitory effect of <i>Labisia pumila</i> leaf extract on angiogenesis via down-regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor

“…By virtue of their antioxidant and free radical scavenging activity, polyphenols have received much interest from researchers seeking to develop anticancer, antiangiogenic and cardiovascular-disease medications [9].…”