Recent Advances in the Antiproliferative and Proapoptotic Activity of Various Plant Extracts and Constituents against Murine Malignant Melanoma

Abstract

Although conventional medicine, chemical drug synthesis and pharmaceutical research are advancing at a rapid pace, nature remains a major supplier of biological molecules. Natural bioactive compounds are studied closely especially as an alternative to the limitations of conventional therapy in many diseases, melanoma being one of them. Malignant melanoma is a highly aggressive type of cancer, and the current methods of treatment used are cryotherapy, external surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy, biological therapy, and targeted drug therapy. Unfortunately, these treatment methods are often inefficient, extremely expensive and cause many side effects, which is why focusing on melanoma chemoprevention and adjuvant therapy with natural herbal phytoconstituents is an emerging strategy to prevent, cure or treat melanoma. This review aims to examine the latest discoveries in terms of potential natural bioactive compounds that possess important activity against the development and spread of murine melanoma cancer. In particular, the use of different phytochemicals such as phenolic acids, flavonoids, anthocyanins, terpenoids, essential oils and carotenoids in vitro and in vivo models will be discussed. These data are helpful in guiding researchers in the direction of studying phytonutrients with important effects in the prevention and treatment of melanoma.

The Antioxidant and Proapoptotic Effects of Sternbergia clusiana Bulb Ethanolic Extract on Triple-Negative and Estrogen-Dependent Breast Cancer Cells In Vitro

“…Another apoptosis-specific feature that was also shown to be induced by ScBEE on BC in our experiments is the internucleosomal cleavage of DNA into conserved size fragments [ 35 ] detected by cell death ELISA. A main provoker of this systematic fragmentation of DNA is the cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) into its inactive cleaved form [ 36 ], a process that ultimately deters the DNA damage repair system [ 37 ]. Our protein blot results show an upregulation in the expression of c-PARP in MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells with increased ScBEE concentrations, which explains the effect of the extract on DNA fragmentation.…”

Inhibition of Tumor Growth and Modulation of Antioxidant Activity of Rhodoxanthin Isolated from Taxus baccata Aril against B16F10 Murine Malignant Melanoma

“…The cells were incubated for five days in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 100 IU/mL penicillin in a humidified incubator containing 5% CO 2 (Advantage-Lab, Schilde, Belgium) at 37 °C in a humidified atmosphere. Previous to this experiment, rhodoxanthin was tested in vitro on the same cell line [ 3 ]. Prior to the inoculation, cells were harvested by trypsinization and washed three times with PBS.…”

“…Malignant melanoma is the most aggressive type of skin cancer, with the worst prognosis, and it affects a younger population than most cancers [ 1 ]. René Laënnac first characterized cutaneous malignant melanoma in 1806, proving an etiology that originates from the alteration and uncontrolled development of melanocytes which resists the most conventional remedies, resulting in a growing public health problem [ 2 , 3 ]. Being the 19th most frequent skin neoplasia, every year, around 200,000 new cases of primary malignant melanoma cancer are reported worldwide (excluding non-melanoma skin cancers), with around 55,500 deaths reported each year.…”