Anticancer activity of monoterpenes: a systematic review

Anticancer activity of monoterpenes: a systematic review

Secondary metabolites have been recognized for centuries as medicinal agents, in particular monoterpenes which have been the target of research in the discovery of antineoplastic drugs, as they have potential antitumor effect and low toxicity and are used as additives in foods and cosmetics. Another...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Molecular biology reports Vol. 48; no. 7; pp. 5775 - 5785
Main Authors: Silva, Bruno I. M., Nascimento, Erika A., Silva, Cleber J., Silva, Teresinha G., Aguiar, Jaciana S.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-07-2021
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Animal Anatomy
Animal Biochemistry
Antineoplastic drugs
Antitumor activity
Apoptosis
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Cancer
Cosmetics
Cytotoxicity
Drug delivery
Drug discovery
Food additives
Histology
Life Sciences
Monoterpenes
Morphology
Oxidative stress
Review
Reviews
Secondary metabolites
Systematic review
Tumor cell lines
Oxidative stress
Cytotoxicity
Iridoids
Antineoplastic
Apoptosis
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Summary:Secondary metabolites have been recognized for centuries as medicinal agents, in particular monoterpenes which have been the target of research in the discovery of antineoplastic drugs, as they have potential antitumor effect and low toxicity and are used as additives in foods and cosmetics. Another advantage of monoterpenes is structural diversity, which gives greater plasticity when interacting with cells. The purpose of this review was to summarize and critically discuss the anticancer potential of monoterpenes and their respective mechanisms of action. A systematic review of articles in the MEDLINE/PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and Science Direct electronic databases was independently conducted by three reviewers using the combination of the following keywords: monoterpenes AND anticancer AND in vitro. Restriction in selecting articles followed pre-established inclusion and exclusion criteria by the reviewers, and also a time limitation with works published between 2015 and 2019 being selected. In total, 39 works were deemed eligible for inclusion in the final review. Monoterpenes have cytotoxic activity in a wide variety of tumor cell lines, and mainly appear to exert this effect by inducing apoptosis caused by oxidative stress. In addition, improved use of monoterpenes when used in drug delivery systems and the synergistic effect with conventional chemotherapeutic drugs are reported. These findings validate this class of compounds as a promising source of chemotherapeutic drugs yet to be explored.
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ISSN:0301-4851
1573-4978
DOI:10.1007/s11033-021-06578-5