Anticancer activities ofWithania somnifera: Current research, formulations, and future perspectives

Abstract

Context: Cancer, being a cause of death for major fraction of population worldwide, is one of the most studied diseases and is being investigated for the development of new technologies and more accurate therapies. Still the currently available therapies for cancer have many lacunae which affect the patient's health severely in the form of side effects. The natural drugs obtained from the medicinal plants provide a better alternative to fight against this devastating disease. Withania somnifera L. Dunal (Solanaceae), a well-known Ayurvedic medicinal plant, has been traditionally used to cure various ailments for centuries. Objectives: Considering the immense potential of W. somnifera, this review provides a detail account of its vital phytoconstituents and summarizes the present status of the research carried out on its anticancerous activities, giving future directions. Methods: The sources of scientific literature were accessed from various electronic databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, and library search. Results: Various parts of W. somnifera especially the roots with its unique contents have been proved effective against different kinds of cancers. The most active components withanolides and withaferins along with a few other metabolites including withanone (WN) and withanosides have been reported effective against different types of cancer cell lines. Conclusion: This herb holds an important place among various anticancer medicinal plants. It is very essential to further screen and to investigate different formulations for anticancer therapy in vitro as well as in vivo in combination with established chemotherapy.

Natural product HTP screening for attenuation of cytokine-induced neutrophil chemo attractants (CINCs) and NO2− in LPS/IFNγ activated glioma cells

“…Ashwaganda has beneficial effects on diseases of cardiovascular nature (Ravindran et al, 2015a), obesity, diabetes, infection, cancer (Choi and Kim, 2015, Khazal et al, 2014, Rai et al, 2016), arthritis (Gupta and Singh, 2014, Khan et al, 2015) and gastric inflammation (Kim et al, 2016). The major constituent in Ashwaganda, identified as Withaferin A, itself is an inhibitor of HMG-CoA, angiotensinogen-converting enzyme, (Ravindran et al, 2015b) can lower total cholesterol, triglycerides, higher HDL/LDL ratios (Shukla et al, 2014) and reduce severity or incidence of myocardial infarction, (Khalil et al, 2015) stroke (Ahmad et al, 2015, Raghavan and Shah, 2015, Sood et al, 2015) and hypertension.…”

Determination of permeability, plasma protein binding, blood partitioning, pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of Withanolide A in rats: A neuroprotective steroidal lactone

“…It has been widely used in different forms of drug preparation from ancient time to improve the human longevity and vitality (Kulkarni & Dhir, ; Sangwan et al, ). Recent pharmacological studies have revealed that W. somnifera possess innumerable pharmacological actions including anti‐inflammatory (Chandra, Chatterjee, Dey, & Bhattacharya, ), antioxidant (Dhanani, Shah, Gajbhiye, & Kumar, ), antihypertensive (Andallu & Radhika, ), neuroprotective (Ahmad et al, ), immune modulation (Agarwal, Diwanay, Patki, & Patwardhan, ), anticancer (Jayaprakasam, Zhang, Seeram, & Nair, ; Rai, Jogee, Agarkar, & CAd, ) activities and also help in improvement of stress‐related disorders (Archana & Namasivayam, ). The therapeutic potential of W. somnifera is mainly due to the presence of various active moieties having a steroidal lactone ring in their structure called Withanolide (22‐hydroxyergostan‐26‐oic acid‐26,22‐lactone) (Mirjalili, Moyano, Bonfill, Cusido, & Palazón, ).…”

Withaferin A suppresses the growth of myelodysplasia and leukemia cell lines by inhibiting cell cycle progression

“…Withaferin A (WA), one of the steroidal lactones, is a bioactive constituent of the Indian herb Withania somnifera (commonly known as Ashwagandha or Indian winter cherry), a wild plant that is widely distributed across the South Asian field, and is a traditional medicine for various diseases, such as inflammatory diseases, autoimmune diseases and malignant tumors …”

“…Withaferin A (WA), one of the steroidal lactones, is a bioactive constituent of the Indian herb Withania somnifera (commonly known as Ashwagandha or Indian winter cherry), a wild plant that is widely distributed across the South Asian field, (3,4) and is a traditional medicine for various diseases, such as inflammatory diseases, autoimmune diseases and malignant tumors. (5) The anticancer activity of WA was reported for the first time in 1967 (6) and several investigations have since been performed to determine its potential as an anticancer agent. Previous reports have demonstrated that WA affects microtubules or vimentin intermediate filaments and, subsequently, exerts cytotoxicity or inhibition of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition.…”