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Abstract

Since early times, various plants have been used as remedies for treating different kinds of diseases and lesions with satisfying results. The phenolic compounds are secondary metabolites from medicinal plants which include a wide category of compounds such as phenolic acids, flavonoids, tannins, stilbenes, curcuminoids, xanthones, coumarins, lignans, etc. Between these, lignans are considered important in cancer prevention and treatment, besides other beneficial health effects, e.g. antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, antimutagenic, and anti-estrogenic effects. This review summarizes the most recent literature and the most important results concerning plant lignans and their derivatives in cancer prevention and treatment, both in vitro and in vivo assessments. The mechanistic aspects will be also highlighted.

Abstract

The tendency of using herbs extracts or natural compounds extracted from herbs for preventing or treating different illnesses, including cancer, continues to be an alternative to drug use. Many studies of plant compounds aimed at finding substances with selective cytotoxicity on abnormal cells. Phenolic compounds, as important secondary metabolites from plants, are one of them. In this review, the recent literature data from the past five years about anticancer/antitumor effect of flavonoids and tannins extracted from medicinal plants are surveyed. The cytostatic/antitumor effects of the individual compounds extracted from plants and/or of the plants' polyphenolic extracts are considered, in order to point out the most significant constituents or plants with anticancer potential. The most important results concerning these compounds and their derivatives in cancer prevention and treatment, the importance of their chemical structure, their mechanism of action in vitro and in vivo, and some bioavailability aspects are discussed. © 2020 Bentham Science Publishers.

Abstract

The tendency of using herbs extracts or natural compounds extracted from herbs for preventing or treating different illnesses, including cancer, continues to be an alternative to drug use. Many studies of plant compounds aimed at finding substances with selective cytotoxicity on abnormal cells. Phenolic compounds, as important secondary metabolites from plants, are one of them. In this review, the recent literature data from the past five years about anticancer/antitumor effect of flavonoids and tannins extracted from medicinal plants are surveyed. The cytostatic/antitumor effects of the individual compounds extracted from plants and/or of the plants' polyphenolic extracts are considered, in order to point out the most significant constituents or plants with anticancer potential. The most important results concerning these compounds and their derivatives in cancer prevention and treatment, the importance of their chemical structure, their mechanism of action in vitro and in vivo, and some bioavailability aspects are discussed.

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Abstract

Berteroa incana is a wild herb widespread in temperate zones which was practically not studied for its biological effects. Methanolic and aqueous extracts of B. incana were assessed for the content in polyphenols and the related antioxidant and antimicrobial activities and the polysaccharide extract for the content in saccharides and the associated cytostatic effect. The results obtained highlighted that the methanolic extracts of B. incana contain moderate amounts of polyphenols, the most representative been isoquercitrin 4.41 +/- 0.02 mg100 g(-1)dry weight plant material (DW), quercetin 4.21 +/- 0.05, sinapic acid 5.23 +/- 0.12 and ferulic acid 5.05 +/- 0.12 mg 100 g(-1)DW, with correlated moderate antioxidant activities (IC (50) 13.40 +/- 0.01 mu g mL(-1)) and absent antibacterial activity. The polysaccharide fraction showed high content in saccharides, especially in arabinose (312.22 +/- 7.54 mg g(-1) polysaccharide extract) and glucose (279.22 +/- 5.59), and promising cytostatic effect. [GRAPHICS] .

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Abstract

Background: In the last years, the production and applications of nanoparticles based on iron oxides in the field of biomedicine presented a great interest due to their particular properties. Because of the expansion of the pharmaceutical industry numerous new systems for drugs delivery have appeared, and those centered on magnetic nanoparticles are in a particular attention and in different promising developmental stages. Objective: In this mini review, some representative, interesting and feasible magnetic nanostructures obtained recently (from last 5-6 years) with possible use in antitumor/anticancer therapy are presented. Results: The synthesis of these nanostructures with magnetic properties implies very simple assembling procedures and presents one of the lowest cytotoxic profiles. Magnetic nanostructures displayed possible appliance in a large diversity of biotechnological and medical fields, both for diagnose and therapy. Conclusion: Different types of magnetic nano-carriers loaded with different antitumor/ anticancer agents and the cases tested in vivo are considered.

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