Title:Plant Coumestans: Recent Advances and Future Perspectives in Cancer Therapy
Volume: 14
Issue: 10
Author(s): Tereza Nehybova, Jan Smarda and Petr Benes
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Cancer, cellular target, coumestrol, coumestan, glycyrol, psoralidin, therapy, wedelolactone.
Abstract: Natural products are often used in drug development due to their ability to form unique and diverse chemical structures.
Coumestans are polycyclic aromatic plant secondary metabolites containing a coumestan moiety, which consists of a benzoxole fused to
a chromen-2-one to form 1-Benzoxolo[3,2-c]chromen-6-one. These natural compounds are known for large number of biological
activities. Many of their biological effects can be attributed to their action as phytoestrogens and polyphenols. In the last decade,
anticancer effects of these compounds have been described in vitro but there is only limited number of studies based on models in vivo.
More information concerning their in vivo bioavailability, stability, metabolism, toxicity, estrogenicity, cellular targets and drug
interactions is therefore needed to proceed further to clinical studies. This review focuses on coumestans exhibiting anticancer properties
and summarizes mechanisms of their toxicity to cancer cells. Moreover, the possible role of coumestans in cancer prevention is
discussed.
