Elekofehinti, O.O.; Iwaloye, O.; Olawale, F.; Ariyo, E.O. Saponins in Cancer Treatment: Current Progress and Future Prospects. Pathophysiology2021, 28, 250-272.
Elekofehinti, O.O.; Iwaloye, O.; Olawale, F.; Ariyo, E.O. Saponins in Cancer Treatment: Current Progress and Future Prospects. Pathophysiology 2021, 28, 250-272.
Elekofehinti, O.O.; Iwaloye, O.; Olawale, F.; Ariyo, E.O. Saponins in Cancer Treatment: Current Progress and Future Prospects. Pathophysiology2021, 28, 250-272.
Elekofehinti, O.O.; Iwaloye, O.; Olawale, F.; Ariyo, E.O. Saponins in Cancer Treatment: Current Progress and Future Prospects. Pathophysiology 2021, 28, 250-272.
Abstract
Abstract
Traditional plants are known to contain a wide array of secondary metabolites with important biological activity, including anticancer activity. One of such metabolites is saponin; a steroidal or triterpenoid glycoside that is distinguished by its soap forming nature. Different saponins have been characterized and purified so far, and are gaining attention in cancer chemotherapy. Saponins possess incredible structural diversity which has been linked to their activity. They have been implicated in cancer chemoprevention and chemotherapy. Several studies have reported the role of saponins in cancer and their mechanism of actions including cell cycle arrest, antioxidant, cellular invasion inhibition, induction of apoptosis and autophagy. Despite the extensive research and significant anticancer effect of saponins there are no known FDA approved saponin based anticancer drugs due to a number of limitations including toxicities and drug likeness properties. Recent studies have explored options such as structural optimization, combination therapy and drug delivery systems to design saponins with increased efficacy and decreased toxicities. This review discussed the current knowledge on different saponins, their anticancer activity, mechanism of action as well as the current promising research on saponins within the last two decades and recommendations for future studies.
Keywords
Saponins; anticancer activities; traditional plants; mechanism of action; cell cycle arrest; apoptosis; chemopreventive; future cancer research
Subject
Medicine and Pharmacology, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
