This article is part of a themed section on Principles of Pharmacological Research of Nutraceuticals. To view the other articles in this section visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.v174.11/issuetoc.

Natural compounds, in recent years, have attracted significant attention for their use in the prevention and treatment of diverse chronic diseases as they are devoid of major toxicities. Boswellic acid (BA), a series of pentacyclic triterpene molecules, is isolated from the gum resin of Boswellia serrata and Boswellia carteri. It proved to be one such agent that has exhibited efficacy against various chronic diseases like arthritis, diabetes, asthma, cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, etc. The molecular targets attributed to its wide range of biological activities include transcription factors, kinases, enzymes, receptors, growth factors, etc. The present review is an attempt to demonstrate the diverse pharmacological uses of BA, along with its underlying molecular mechanism of action against different ailments. Further, this review also discusses the roadblocks associated with the pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of this promising compound and strategies to overcome those limitations for developing it as an effective drug for the clinical management of chronic diseases.

ATP citrate lyase (ACLY), an important enzyme involved in lipid biogenesis linked with glucose metabolism, catalyzes the conversion of citrate to oxaloacetic acid (OAA) and acetyl-CoA. The obtained acetyl-CoA is required for lipid synthesis during membrane biogenesis, as well as for histone acetylation reactions to regulate the expression of certain proteins in aberrantly proliferating cancer cells. Studies have shown a role for ACLY in tumorigenesis whereby increased levels of the enzyme leads to increased metabolic activity via activation of Akt signaling. Increasing lines of evidence suggest that enzymes involved in lipid biogenesis play a significant role in cancer cell proliferation and progression. In many cancer types such as glioblastoma, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma etc., the level of ACLY has been found to be quite high as compared to normal cells. Cancer cell growth related to overexpression of ACLY can be inhibited by using chemical inhibitors or by the knockdown of ACLY gene. Inhibition of ACLY leads to changes in cancer cell metabolism that promotes tumor growth and proliferation. This review summarizes the role of ACLY in cancer development and its inhibitors in cancer treatment.

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The past few decades have witnessed widespread research to challenge carcinogenesis; however, it remains one of the most important health concerns with the worst prognosis and diagnosis. Increasing lines of evidence clearly show that the rate of cancer incidence will increase in future and will create global havoc, designating it as an epidemic. Conventional chemotherapeutics and treatment with synthetic disciplines are often associated with adverse side effects and development of chemoresistance. Thus, discovering novel economic and patient friendly drugs that are safe and efficacious is warranted. Several natural compounds have proved their potential against this dreadful disease so far. Magnolol is a hydroxylated biphenyl isolated from the root and stem bark of Magnolia tree. Magnolol can efficiently prevent or inhibit the growth of various cancers originating from different organs such as brain, breast, cervical, colon, liver, lung, prostate, skin, etc. Considering these perspectives, the current review primarily focuses on the fascinating role of magnolol against various types of cancers, and the source and chemistry of magnolol and the molecular mechanism underlying the targets of magnolol are discussed. This review proposes magnolol as a suitable candidate that can be appropriately designed and established into a potent anti-cancer drug.