Natural Products as Inducers of Non-Canonical Cell Death: A Weapon against Cancer
Dipartimento di Scienze per la Qualità della Vita, Alma Mater Studiorum—Università di Bologna, Corso d’Augusto 237, 47921 Rimini, Italy
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Cancers 2021, 13(2), 304; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13020304
Received: 16 December 2020
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Revised: 9 January 2021
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Accepted: 13 January 2021
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Published: 15 January 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Deregulation of Cell Death in Cancer)
Simple Summary
Anticancer therapeutic approaches based solely on apoptosis induction are often unsuccessful due to the activation of resistance mechanisms. The identification and characterization of compounds capable of triggering non-apoptotic, also called non-canonical cell death pathways, could represent an important strategy that may integrate or offer alternative approaches to the current anticancer therapies. In this review, we critically discuss the promotion of ferroptosis, necroptosis, and pyroptosis by natural compounds as a new anticancer strategy.
Apoptosis has been considered the main mechanism induced by cancer chemotherapeutic drugs for a long time. This paradigm is currently evolving and changing, as increasing evidence pointed out that antitumor agents could trigger various non-canonical or non-apoptotic cell death types. A considerable number of antitumor drugs derive from natural sources, both in their naturally occurring form or as synthetic derivatives. Therefore, it is not surprising that several natural compounds have been explored for their ability to induce non-canonical cell death. The aim of this review is to highlight the potential antitumor effects of natural products as ferroptosis, necroptosis, or pyroptosis inducers. Natural products have proven to be promising non-canonical cell death inducers, capable of overcoming cancer cells resistance to apoptosis. However, as discussed in this review, they often lack a full characterization of their antitumor activity together with an in-depth investigation of their toxicological profile.
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Keywords:
natural products; cancer; non-canonical cell death; ferroptosis; necroptosis; pyroptosis; in vitro studies; in vivo studies
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MDPI and ACS Style
Greco, G.; Catanzaro, E.; Fimognari, C. Natural Products as Inducers of Non-Canonical Cell Death: A Weapon against Cancer. Cancers 2021, 13, 304. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13020304
AMA Style
Greco G, Catanzaro E, Fimognari C. Natural Products as Inducers of Non-Canonical Cell Death: A Weapon against Cancer. Cancers. 2021; 13(2):304. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13020304
Chicago/Turabian StyleGreco, Giulia, Elena Catanzaro, and Carmela Fimognari. 2021. "Natural Products as Inducers of Non-Canonical Cell Death: A Weapon against Cancer" Cancers 13, no. 2: 304. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13020304
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