Title
Anti-cancer phytometabolites targeting cancer stem cells
Date Issued
01 April 2017
Access level
open access
Resource Type
review
Author(s)
Torquato H.
Goettert M.
Justo G.
Universidade Federal de São Paulo
Publisher(s)
Bentham Science Publishers B.V.
Abstract
Medicinal plants are a plentiful source of bioactive molecules with much structural diversity. In cancer treatment, molecules obtained from plants represent an attractive alternative to other treatments because several plant-derived compounds have exhibited lower toxicity and higher selectivity against cancer cells. In this review, we focus on the possible application of bioactive molecules obtained from plants against more primitive cell populations in cancers, cancer stem cells. Cancer stem cells are present in several kinds of tumors and are responsible for recurrences and metastases. Common anticancer drugs exhibit lower effectiveness against cancer stem cells because of their biological features. However, recently discovered natural phytometabolites exert cytotoxic effects on this rare population of cells in cancers. Therefore, this review presents the latest research on promising compounds from plants that can act as antitumor drugs and that mainly affect stem cell populations in cancers.
Start page
156
End page
174
Volume
18
Issue
2
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Oncología Biología celular, Microbiología
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85013899215
Source
Current Genomics
ISSN of the container
13892029
Sponsor(s)
This work was supported by grants from Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP n° 2013/09068-7 to EJP-G) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq n° 473797/2013). H.F.V.T. was supported by a PhD fellowship from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES). We thank Prof. Edward A. Yates for English editorial assistance.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus