Rise of the natural red pigment ‘prodigiosin’ as an immunomodulator in cancer

Abstract

Cancer is a heterogeneous disease with multifaceted drug resistance mechanisms (e.g., tumour microenvironment [TME], tumour heterogeneity, and immune evasion). Natural products are interesting repository of bioactive molecules, especially those with anticancer activities. Prodigiosin, a red pigment produced by Serratia marcescens, possesses inherent anticancer characteristics, showing interesting antitumour activities in different cancers (e.g., breast, gastric) with low or without harmful effects on normal cells. The present review discusses the potential role of prodigiosin in modulating and reprogramming the metabolism of the various immune cells in the TME, such as T and B lymphocytes, tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs), natural killer (NK) cells, and tumour-associated dendritic cells (TADCs), and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) which in turn might introduce as an immunomodulator in cancer therapy.

Decylprodigiosin: a new member of the prodigiosin family isolated from a seaweed-associated Streptomyces

“…Prodigiosin and its family derivatives have been widely studied due to their biotechnological applications. In particular, this NPs family is efficient across several cancer types with low effects against non-malignant tissues, also offering interesting possibilities for combinatorial applications once they can act synergistically and/or additively with other drugs ( Manderville, 2001 ; Montaner and Prez-Toms, 2003 ; Anwar et al, 2022 ). Different prodigiosin analogues, with minor modifications on their structures, have shown different modes of action and degrees of cytotoxicity ( Kimata et al, 2018 ).…”

Natural products as promising modulators of breast cancer immunotherapy

“…Furthermore, it has been found to reduce the number and differentiation of Tregs, thus preventing immune tolerance and enhancing antitumor functions via inhibition of heat shock protein 90 and survivin, and activation of p53. It also suppresses tumor growth via the inhibition of M2 polarization and induction of TAM infiltration ( 51 ).…”