Nature is the best source of anticancer drugs: Indexing natural products for their anticancer bioactivity

Abstract

Cancer is considered one of the primary diseases that cause morbidity and mortality in millions of people worldwide and due to its prevalence, there is undoubtedly an unmet need to discover novel anticancer drugs. However, the traditional process of drug discovery and development is lengthy and expensive, so the application of in silico techniques and optimization algorithms in drug discovery projects can provide a solution, saving time and costs. A set of 617 approved anticancer drugs, constituting the active domain, and a set of 2,892 natural products, constituting the inactive domain, were employed to build predictive models and to index natural products for their anticancer bioactivity. Using the iterative stochastic elimination optimization technique, we obtained a highly discriminative and robust model, with an area under the curve of 0.95. Twelve natural products that scored highly as potential anticancer drug candidates are disclosed. Searching the scientific literature revealed that few of those molecules (Neoechinulin, Colchicine, and Piperolactam) have already been experimentally screened for their anticancer activity and found active. The other phytochemicals await evaluation for their anticancerous activity in wet lab.

Molecular Diversity from Arid‐Land Plants: Valorization of Terpenes and Biotransformation Products

“…and Trypanosoma cruzi that require new drugs that substitute the actual ineffective treatments . Moreover, natural products are a large reservoir of unexplored compounds that can be used to overcome the undesirable effects of chemotherapeutic agents, which are commonly associated to systemic toxicity and drug resistance …”

Identification of Vaccinia‐H1 Related Phosphatase as an Anticancer Target for 1,2,3,4,6‐O‐Pentagalloylglucose

“…Small‐molecule VHR inhibitors have been reported to exert antiproliferative effects on HeLa cervical cancer cells, suggesting that VHR could be a potential target for anticancer therapy . There has been an elevated interest in the discovery and development of natural products as new anticancer agents . In this study, we screened a library of 658 natural products to identify the VHR inhibitors.…”

“…[5,6] There has been an elevated interest in the discovery and development of natural products as new anticancer agents. [9] In this study, we screened a library of 658 natural products to identify the VHR inhibitors. Among the VHR-inhibitory compounds, 1,2,3,4,6-O-pentagalloylglucose (PGG) was identified as an anticancer drug for treating cervical cancer.…”

Synthesis and Anticancer Activity of Tertiary Amides of Salinomycin and Their C20‐oxo Analogues

“…Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, and it is estimated that about 10 million people died from cancer in 2018 . Among currently used cancer therapies, surgical removal and radiation treatment, followed by systemic chemotherapy, are the most commonly used strategies . However, the major disadvantages of chemotherapy are the recurrence of cancer, associated with drug resistance, and also severe side effects that significantly limit dosing and impair a patient's quality of life .…”

“…Among currently used cancer therapies, surgical removal and radiation treatment, followed by systemic chemotherapy, are the most commonly used strategies . However, the major disadvantages of chemotherapy are the recurrence of cancer, associated with drug resistance, and also severe side effects that significantly limit dosing and impair a patient's quality of life . Despite these limitations, chemotherapy is still widely employed at all stages of cancer progression .…”