Preventive and Therapeutic Roles of Ginseng - Focus on Colon Cancer

Abstract

Colorectal cancer is one of the most prevalent diseases all over the world. Early screening and start of chemotherapy is effective in decreasing mortality. This type of cancer can be controlled to some extent via a healthy diet rich in fruit and vegetables. Ginseng is a plant which has been consumed as a herbal medicine for thousands of years in Asian countries. Several in vitro and in vivo studies have shown that this plant not only reduces the incidence of colorectal cancer, but also improves patient's status by enhancing the effects of chemotherapy drugs. However, further studies are needed to prove this relationship. We briefly review ginseng and its components such as ginsenosides reported anticancer effects and their mechanisms of action. Understanding these relationships may produce insights into chemical and pharmacological approaches for enhancing the chemo preventive effects of ginsenosides and for developing novel anticancer agents.

Ginseng berry extract increases nitric oxide level in vascular endothelial cells and improves cGMP expression and blood circulation in muscle cells

“…Ginseng and its associated ingredients have been used in food or herbal medicines for thousands of years to treat many diseases 23 . It exhibits anti-aging, anti-diabetic, anticancer, and anti-fatigue effects through promotion of DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis 24 . In addition, ginseng contains many ingredients, such as ginsenosides, polysaccharides, polyacetylenes, fatty acids, mineral oil, peptides, and amino acids 25 .…”

Saponins as cytotoxic agents: an update (2010–2021). Part II—Triterpene saponins

“…Although several reviews on triterpene saponins have appeared in the last decade, they generally listed cytotoxicity among other pharmacological activities (Osbourn et al 2011;Thoppil and Bishayee 2011;Ali et al 2012;Saraswati 2019) or were limited to a certain aspect related to cytotoxic activity (Wang et al 2010;Tian et al 2013b;Levitsky and Dembitsky 2015), focused exclusively on some structural type (Gauthier et al 2011;Lacaille-Dubois et al 2011;Patlolla and Rao 2015) or plant sources, such as licorice (Tang et al 2015). Regarding botanical sources, more attention was given to potential antitumor effects of saponins typical of the Myrsinaceae family (Muhamad et al 2021), Medicago species (Wang et al 2021a), and most particularly ginseng and isolated ginsenosides (Nag et al 2012;Choi et al 2013;Vayghan et al 2014;Wong et al 2015;Nakhjavani et al 2019;Wu et al 2021b;Xu et al 2021;Wang et al 2021b). Also, reviews that focused on various natural compounds that targeted specific mechanisms relevant to cancer, including autophagy (Han and He 2021), tumor angiogenesisassociated cytokines (Li et al 2021c) suppression of active Mdm2 (Kaur and Nayak 2021) listed examples of saponins among other active natural molecules.…”

Anti-Cancer Effect of Panax Ginseng and Its Metabolites: From Traditional Medicine to Modern Drug Discovery

“…Ginsenosides, also known as steroid-like saponins, are unique to ginseng species [33]. Ginsenosides have been widely proven to be effective in neurodegenerative diseases and cardiovascular diseases [34,35], and in the case of cancer, effect of treatment and prevention against breast, lung and colon cancer have been reported [36][37][38]. In particular, a clinical trial showed that ginsenoside improved quality of life after chemotherapy in epithelial uterine cancer [39].…”