Natural products to prevent drug resistance in cancer chemotherapy: a review

Abstract

Chemotherapy is the standard internal medical treatment for cancer. However, the resistance of cancer cells to nearly all kinds of chemotherapeutic drugs and targeted drugs has become prevalent, and approximately 80-90% of deaths in cancer patients are directly or indirectly attributed to drug resistance. The progress of new drug research and development has also been impeded by the occurrence of drug resistance, which has emerged as a considerable challenge in cancer therapy. Fortunately, natural products with diverse chemical structures and pharmacological effects serve as effective substances against drug resistance. Since the discovery of a series of drug-resistant proteins, drug-efflux inhibition has been applied as the primary strategy to overcome drug resistance by maintaining the intracellular concentrations of chemotherapeutic drugs. Nonapoptotic cell death is considered an alternative strategy because most cases of drug resistance result in evasion and insensitivity to apoptosis. In this concise review, we summarize two strategies using natural products against drug resistance.

Molecular targets of curcumin in breast cancer (Review)

“…Simultaneously, a number of cell cycle regulatory proteins are downregulated, including the CDK inhibitors, p21, p27 and p57 (5)(6)(7)(8). Targeting these molecules may be effective in breast cancer therapy (5), and natural products that target these molecules are particularly attractive as they are likely to have high therapeutic potential and less likely to induce adverse effects (9,10). Plants are an excellent source of bioactive natural compounds (7,(11)(12)(13), and polyphenolic compounds from plants frequently exert multiple therapeutic effects (14)(15)(16).…”

Discovery of SCY45, a Natural Small‐Molecule MDM2‐p53 Interaction Inhibitor

“…[12] Natural products, with an inherently large scale of structural diversity, have historically served as a major source of new leads for pharmaceutical development, especially for cancer therapy. [13,14] Active compounds from medicinal plants are generally biologically friendly, due to their coevolution with their interaction sites in the biological targets. [15] Here, we report the discovery and characterization of a natural compound that inhibits the MDM2-p53 interaction.…”

Anticancer activity and mechanism of action of fermented wheat germ extract against ovarian cancer

“…Natural products are reported to have various biological and pharmacological activities, such as anticancer, anti‐inflammation, and neuroprotection (Mattson, ; Upadhyay & Dixit, ). More than 50% of current cancer patients use antitumor drugs that are derived from natural products and function as effective substances against chemotherapy resistance (Yuan et al, ).…”

“…More than 50% of current cancer patients use antitumor drugs that are derived from natural products and function as effective substances against chemotherapy resistance (Yuan et al, 2017).…”