Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Pristimerin in Cancer Therapy: Recent Advances

Abstract

Seeking an efficient and safe approach to eliminate tumors is a common goal of medical fields. Over these years, traditional Chinese medicine has attracted growing attention in cancer treatment due to its long history. Pristimerin is a naturally occurring quinone methide triterpenoid used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat various cancers. Recent studies have identified alterations in cellular events and molecular signaling targets of cancer cells under pristimerin treatment. Pristimerin induces cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, and autophagy to exhibit anti-proliferation effects against tumors. Pristimerin also inhibits the invasion, migration, and metastasis of tumor cells via affecting cell adhesion, cytoskeleton, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, cancer stem cells, and angiogenesis. Molecular factors and pathways are associated with the anti-cancer activities of pristimerin. Furthermore, pristimerin reverses multidrug resistance of cancer cells and exerts synergizing effects with other chemotherapeutic drugs. This review aims to discuss the anti-cancer potentials of pristimerin, emphasizing multi-targeted biological and molecular regulations in cancers. Further investigations and clinical trials are warranted to understand the advantages and disadvantages of pristimerin treatment much better.

Accurate delivery of pristimerin and paclitaxel by folic acid-linked nano-micelles for enhancing chemosensitivity in cancer therapy

“…Studies have reported that PRI can inhibit migration and invasion of various tumor cells [ 14 , 19 ], including NSCLC cells [ 40 ]. The effects of F@FPP on A549 cell migration was tested by using scratch test and Transwell system, and it was indicated that the migration capacity of tumor cells with treatment of P@FPP NMs was obviously inhibited compared to the PRI combined with PTX administration (Fig.…”

“…Chinese traditional herbs play an auxiliary anti-cancer role by inducing cell apoptosis, enhancing immune system function, and reversing multiple drug resistance [ 10 , 11 ]. As a natural quinonemethide triterpenoid isolated from celastraceae and hippocrateaceae , pristimerin (PRI) possess multiple pharmacological activities of anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidation [ 12 – 14 ]. Studies have shown that PRI exhibits inhibitory effects on a variety of tumors, including lung cancer [ 15 , 16 ], breast cancer [ 17 , 18 ], and colorectal cancer [ 19 – 21 ].…”

Accurate delivery of pristimerin and paclitaxel by folic acid-linked nano-micelles for enhancing chemosensitivity in cancer therapy

“…Studies have reported that PRI can inhibit migration and invasion of various tumor cells [14,19], including NSCLC cells [35]. The effects of F@FPP on A549 cell migration was tested by using scratch test and Transwell system, and it was indicated that the migration capacity of tumor cells with treatment of P@FPP NMs was obviously inhibited compared to the PRI combined with PTX administration (Fig.…”

“…Chinese traditional herbs play an auxiliary anti-cancer role by inducing cell apoptosis, enhancing immune system function, and reversing multiple drug resistance [10,11]. As a natural quinonemethide triterpenoid isolated from celastraceae and hippocrateaceae, pristimerin (PRI) possess multiple pharmacological activities of anti-tumor, anti-in ammatory, and anti-oxidation [12][13][14]. Studies have shown that PRI exhibit inhibitory effects on a variety of tumors, including lung cancer [15,16], breast cancer [17,18], and colorectal cancer [19][20][21].…”

Attempts to Synthesize a Trimeric Derivative of Pristimerin With Potential Activity Against Cancer Cells

“…Since its isolation in 1951 and structural elucidation in 1954, different biological activities have been attributed to pristimerin (Kulkarni and Shah, 1954). Among these activities are anti-inflammatory (Kim, Park and Kim, 2013;Zhao et al, 2020), antioxidant (Shaaban et al, 2018), antimalarial (Figueiredo et al, 1998), antibacterial (López, de León and Moujir, 2011), and anti-tumor (Yousef et al, 2016;Yousef et al, 2017;Lee et al, 2018;Cevatemre, et al, 2018;Zhao et al, 2019;Li et al, 2019;Chen et al, 2021;Al-Tamimi et al, 2022). The cytotoxic activity observed in several tumor lines was related to the fact that pristimerin presents antiproliferative activity involving apoptosis or programmed cell death (Li et al, 2019), autophagy (Cevatemre, et al, 2018), and inhibition of signaling pathways such as nuclear factor Kappa B (NF-κB) (Tu et al, 2018), Akt (kinase protein B, PKB) (Park and Kim, 2018), modulation of MAPK signaling pathways (Al-Tamimi et al, 2022), among others.…”