Antineoplastic Activity of Natural Products Novel Mechanistic Insights

Abstract

Cancer is among the leading causes of death worldwide, with an estimated 9.6 newlinemillion deaths in the year 2018, according to the World Health Organization. Some of newlinethe characteristics of cancer are unregulated proliferation, evasion of programmed cell newlinedeath and metastasis. Natural Products have long been an abundant source of cure for newlinemany diseases, including cancer, due to their vast structural diversity (1). Recently, newlinethere has been a renewed interest in the Natural Product arena, as a source of potentially newlinenovel compounds that can be pharmacologically active for cancer therapeutics. A large newlinenumber of plants containing alkaloids, toxoids, flavonoids and podophyllotoxins newlinepossess remarkable anticancer properties which need further development to become newlinenew anticancer drugs (2 4). The coconut shell (endocarp) which is an underutilized newlineagricultural waste from the plant Cocos nucifera has been utilized in many traditional newlinemedicinal practices to cure several ailments, including skin infection and are mostly newlinenon-toxic to humans (5,6). Since there are not many studies on the bioprospection of newlinecoconut shell, it was an excellent candidate to be explored for its anticancer properties. newlineThe degradation of the extracellular matrix by matrix metalloproteinases newline(MMPs) is a crucial step in cancer progression. MMPs and Epidermal Growth Factor newlineReceptors (EGFR) are up-regulated in practically all human cancers and mediate newlineunregulated cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and metastasis (5 7). In addition to newlineMMPs and EGFR, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and Vascular Endothelial Growth newlineFactor (VEGF) play a substantial part in promoting various types of cancer (8,9). Hence newlinetargeting these key markers can have a significant effect in regulating cancer. Many newlineanti-cancer compounds also work by triggering programmed cell death via caspasexi newlinedependent and caspase-independent pathways. Apoptosis, a caspase-mediated cell newlinedeath pathway is one of the prominent targets of many chemotherapeutic agents. newlineMutations of apoptosis-related genes...