Effects of medicinal plants and natural compounds in models of prostate cancer related to sex steroids: A systematic review

Abstract

Prostate cancer remains a health problem for men. Targeting androgen (AR) and estrogen (ER) receptors improves the outcomes of the disease, and many medicinal plants exert their effects by modulating these pathways. Therefore, a systematic review was conducted to identify medicinal plants and their natural compounds that may modulate the AR and/or ER pathways in cell and animal models. A search was conducted across EMBASE, LILACS, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, with grey literature from Google SCHOLAR and ProQuest. Two authors independently selected eligible studies based on their titles and abstracts, and a third author resolved conflicts. Then, data from the full text of eligible studies were extracted and synthesized.In total, 75 studies were included. Results showed the effects of several different medicinal plants and natural compounds in reduction of AR and/or ER transcription and translation and AR secondary effects: cell growth reduction, induction of apoptosis, and cell cycle arrest. In animal models, tumor size reduction, increase in apoptosis, and downregulation of AR expression in tumors were also observed. No single phytochemical group concentrating molecules with anti-AR and/or ER activity was identified. Nevertheless, several phytochemical compounds showed potential for future clinical studies in the management of the disease.

Synergistic effects of natural products in combination with anticancer agents in prostate cancer: A scoping review

“…Furthermore, to provide basic data for this, it is necessary to summarize the natural products used in coadministration studies conducted, in order to evaluate their anticancer efficacy. Many studies on the efficacy of bioactive natural compounds on prostate cancer have been published, and several review papers summarizing them have been published ( Singla et al, 2021b ; Miranda et al, 2022 ). However, so far, only reviews of natural products as single-agents have been conducted, and there have been no papers reviewing the synergistic effect of anticancer efficacy by coadministering natural products with anticancer agents.…”