Plant-Derived Bioactive Compounds for Rhabdomyosarcoma Therapy In Vitro: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), the most common soft tissue sarcoma in children, constitutes approximately 40% of all recorded soft tissue tumors and is associated with a poor prognosis, with survival rates of less than 20% at 3 years. The development of resistance to cytotoxic drugs is a primary contributor to therapeutic failure. Consequently, the exploration of new therapeutic strategies is of vital importance. The potential use of plant extracts and their bioactive compounds emerges as a complementary treatment for this type of cancer. This systematic review focuses on research related to plant extracts or isolated bioactive compounds exhibiting antitumor activity against RMS cells. Literature searches were conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, and WOS. A total of 173 articles published to date were identified, although only 40 were finally included to meet the inclusion criteria. Furthermore, many of these compounds are readily available and have reduced cytotoxicity, showing an apoptosis-mediated mechanism of action to induce tumor cell death. Interestingly, their use combined with chemotherapy or loaded with nanoparticles achieves better results by reducing toxicity and/or facilitating entry into tumor cells. Future in vivo studies will be necessary to verify the utility of these natural compounds as a therapeutic tool for RMS.

Exploring Synergistic Interactions between Natural Compounds and Conventional Chemotherapeutic Drugs in Preclinical Models of Lung Cancer

“…Phytomedicines are currently used in about 60% of cancer treatment strategies [6] and reports from the National Cancer Institute, which has evaluated over 35,000 plant species for potential anticancer properties, indicate that over 3000 plant species have promising anticancer or chemopreventive properties [4,7]. Bioactive compounds isolated from medicinal plants are key components in the therapeutic approach of cancer because their synergistic effect has been observed both in classical and conventional therapies [8]. Several phytomedicines have displayed anti-tumorigenic properties across various cancer types, including lung cancer [9].…”