Pharmacological Effects of Grifolin: Focusing on Anticancer Mechanisms

Abstract

Grifolin is a volatile compound contained in essential oils of several medicinal plants. Several studies show that this substance has been the subject of numerous pharmacological investigations, which have yielded interesting results. Grifolin demonstrated beneficial effects for health via its multiple pharmacological activities. It has anti-microbial properties against bacteria, fungi, and parasites. In addition, grifolin exhibited remarkable anti-cancer effects on different human cancer cells. The anticancer action of this molecule is related to its ability to act at cellular and molecular levels on different checkpoints controlling the signaling pathways of human cancer cell lines. Grifolin can induce apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, autophagy, and senescence in these cells. Despite its major pharmacological properties, grifolin has only been investigated in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, further investigations concerning pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic tests are required for any possible pharmaceutical application of this substance. Moreover, toxicological tests and other investigations involving humans as a study model are required to validate the safety and clinical applications of grifolin.

Mechanisms, Anti-Quorum-Sensing Actions, and Clinical Trials of Medicinal Plant Bioactive Compounds against Bacteria: A Comprehensive Review

“…Therefore, researchers have been searching for alternatives to conventional antibiotics. Within this context, natural substances, particularly those extracted from medicinal plants, constitute a source of drugs against various pathologies, including diabetes, cancer, inflammation, and pathologies linked to stress and microbial infections [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. The antibacterial activity of these natural products is linked to different mechanisms of action, such as the increase in membrane permeability, the decrease in membrane integrity, and the disruption of efflux pumps [ 10 , 13 , 18 , 19 ].…”

Anticancer potential of grifolin in lung cancer treatment through PI3K/AKT pathway inhibition

“…The terpenoid compound grifolin is inhibitory in many types of cancer [ 27 ]. We first assessed the anti-proliferative effect of grifolin in human lung cancer A549 and H1299 cell lines.…”

Albatrellus confluens (Alb. & Schwein.) Kotl. & Pouz.: Natural Fungal Compounds and Synthetic Derivatives with In Vitro Anthelmintic Activities and Antiproliferative Effects against Two Human Cancer Cell Lines

“…Yaqoob and coworkers, for instance, tested these compounds for anti-cell viability activity against human colon cancer cells, and published IC 50 values in a quite narrow range of ~25-35 µM for all cell lines they tested [34], in very good accordance with the antiproliferative and cytotoxic activities, respectively, described here. The cancer cells' growth-inhibiting properties of grifolin and neogrifolin motivated researchers to investigate the underlying mode of cell death in several cancer cell lines [60]. Ye et al, postulated that grifolin induces cell death in nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line CNE1 through a caspase-mediated apoptosis process [61].…”