Quercetin and cancer: new insights into its therapeutic effects on ovarian cancer cells

Abstract

Ovarian cancer is known as a serious malignancy that affects women’s reproductive tract and can considerably threat their health. A wide range of molecular mechanisms and genetic modifications have been involved in ovarian cancer pathogenesis making it difficult to develop effective therapeutic platforms. Hence, discovery and developing new therapeutic approaches are required. Medicinal plants, as a new source of drugs, could potentially be used alone or in combination with other medicines in the treatment of various cancers such as ovarian cancer. Among various natural compounds, quercetin has shown great anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties. In vitro and in vivo experiments have revealed that quercetin possesses a cytotoxic impact on ovarian cancer cells. Despite obtaining good results both in vitro and in vivo, few clinical studies have assessed the anti-cancer effects of quercetin particularly in the ovarian cancer. Therefore, it seems that further clinical studies may introduce quercetin as therapeutic agent alone or in combination with other chemotherapy drugs to the clinical setting. Here, we not only summarize the anti-cancer effects of quercetin but also highlight the therapeutic effects of quercetin in the ovarian cancer.

Potent anti‐inflammatory Terminalia chebula fruit showed in vitro anticancer activity on lung and breast carcinoma cells through the regulation of Bax/Bcl‐2 and caspase‐cascade pathways

“…Tannic acid also effective against prostate cancer, liver cancer, colon cancer, head and neck cancer, and gingival squamous cancer cells (Baer‐Dubowska et al, 2020; Darvin et al, 2015). Other phytochemicals such as reserpine (Abdelfatah and Efferth, 2015; Ramamoorthy et al, 2018), quercetin (Far, 2017; Rauf et al, 2018; Vafadar et al, 2020), ascorbic acid (Pawlowska et al, 2019; Vissers and Das, 2018), and gallic acid (Aborehab and Osama, 2019; Khorsandi et al, 2020) have been previously reported for anticancer activities. Moreover, these phytochemicals also have been reported for anti‐inflammatory activities (BenSaad et al, 2017; Ellulu et al, 2015; Karimi‐Khouzani et al, 2017; Yao et al, 2016; Yeo et al, 2020).…”

Plant-Derived Natural Products in Cancer Research: Extraction, Mechanism of Action, and Drug Formulation

“…Quercetin has low bioavailability due to its low water solubility and unstability in physiological conditions [649]. Nano-formulations including microemulsion, nanoparticles, liposomes and solid lipid nanoparticles have been developed for quercetin to enhance its bioavailability [650].…”

Emerging Nanopharmaceuticals and Nanonutraceuticals in Cancer Management

“…Breast cancer [151], ovarian cancer [152,153], cervical cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, liver cancer [154], thyroid cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, lymphomas…”