Anticancer of genus Syzygium: a systematic review

Aim

One in eight fatalities globally are considered cancer-related. The need for cancer therapy is growing. Natural products continue to play a role in drug development, as up to 50% of authorized drugs in the last 30 years have been isolated from natural sources.

Methods

Anticancer, antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and other actions have all been reported in research papers using plants from the Syzygium genus in the treatment and prevention of disease.

Results

Results from the anticancer test showed that the genus, especially Syzygium aqueum, Syzygium samarangense, and Syzygium cumini had significant promise as an anticancer agent in vitro against several cancer cell lines. Numerous factors, including phytochemical composition, increased apoptotic activity, decreased cell proliferation, stopped angiogenesis, and reduced inflammation.

Conclusions

These results, despite preliminary, show promise for further purification and investigation of bioactive compounds and extracts within the genus Syzygium for their anticancer properties.

Utility of Indian fruits in cancer prevention and treatment: Time to undertake translational and bedside studies

The World Health Organization predicts a 70% increase in cancer incidents in developing nations over the next decade, and it will be the second leading cause of death worldwide. Traditional plant-based medicine systems play an important role against various diseases and provide health care to a large section of the population in developing countries. Indigenous fruits and their bioactive compounds with beneficial effects like antioxidant, antiproliferative, and immunomodulatory are shown to be useful in preventing the incidence of cancer. India is one of the biodiversity regions and is native to numerous flora and fauna in the world. Of the many fruiting trees indigenous to India, Mango (Mangifera indica), Black plum (Eugenia jambolana or Syzygium jambolana), Indian gooseberry (Emblica officinalis or Phyllanthus emblica), kokum (Garcinia indica or Brindonia indica), stone apple or bael (Aegle marmelos), Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), Karaunda (Carissa carandas) and Phalsa (Grewia asiatica), Monkey Jackfruit (Artocarpus lakoocha) and Elephant apple (Dillenia indica) have been shown to be beneficial in preventing cancer and in the treatment of cancer in validated preclinical models of study. In this review, efforts are also made to collate the fruits' anticancer effects and the important phytochemicals. Efforts are also made at emphasizing the underlying mechanism/s responsible for the beneficial effects in cancer prevention and treatment. These fruits have been a part of the diet, are non-toxic, and easily acceptable for human application. The plants and some of their phytochemicals possess diverse medicinal properties. The authors propose that future studies should be directed at detailed studies with various preclinical models of study with both composite fruit extract/juice and the individual phytochemicals. Additionally, translational studies should be planned with the highly beneficial, well-investigated and pharmacologically multifactorial amla to understand its usefulness as a cancer preventive in the high-risk population and as a supportive agent in cancer survivors. The outcome of both preclinical and clinical studies will be useful for patients, the healthcare fraternity, pharmaceutical, and agro-based sectors.

Pharmacological potentials and Nutritional values of Tropical and Sub-tropical Fruits of India: Emphasis on their anticancer bioactive components

BACKGROUND

Fruits are an important dietary component, which supply vitamins, minerals, as well as dietary fiber. In addition, they are rich sources of various biological and pharmacologically active compounds. Among these, temperate fruits are well studied for their pharmacological potentials, whereas tropical/subtropical fruits are less explored for their health impacts. In India, most of the consumed fruits are either tropical or subtropical.

OBJECTIVES

The present review aims to provide a health impact of major tropical and sub-tropical fruits of India, emphasizing their anticancer efficacy. In addition, the identified bioactive components from these fruits exhibiting anticancer efficacy are also discussed along with the patent literature published.

METHODS

The literature was collected from various repositories, including NCBI, ScienceDirect, Eurekaselect, and Web of Science; literature from predatory journals was omitted during the process. Patent literature was collected from google patents and similar patent databases.

RESULTS

Tropical fruits are rich sources of various nutrients and bioactive components including polyphenols, flavonoids, anthocyanin, etc. By virtue of these biomolecules, tropical fruits have been shown to interfere with various steps in carcinogenesis, metastasis, and drug resistance. Their mode of action is either by activation of apoptosis, regulation of cell cycle, inhibition of cell survival and proliferation pathways, increased lipid trafficking or inhibiting inflammatory pathways. Several molecules and combinations have been patented for their anticancer and chemoprotective properties.

CONCLUSION

Overall, the present concludes that Indian tropical/ subtropical fruits are nutritionally and pharmacologically active and may serve as a source of novel anticancer agents in the future.

Indian Indigenous Fruits as Radioprotective Agents: Past, Present and Future

Ionising radiation has been an important modality in cancer treatment and its value is immense when surgical intervention is risky or might debilitate/adversely affect the patient. However, the beneficial effect of radiation modality is negated by the damage to the adjacent healthy tissue in the field of radiation. Under these situations, the use of radioprotective compounds that can selectively protect normal tissues against radiation injury is considered very useful. However, research spanning over half a century has shown that there are no ideal radioprotectors available. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or USFDA) approved amifostine or WR-2721 (Walter Reed-2721) [chemically S-2-(3-aminopropyl-amino) ethyl phosphorothioic acid] is toxic at their optimal concentrations. This has necessitated the need for agents that are safe and easily acceptable to humans.

BACKGROUND

Dietary agents with beneficial effects like free radical scavenging, antioxidant and immunomodulatory effects are recognized as applicable and have been investigated for their radioprotective properties. Studies in these lines have shown that the fruits of Aegle marmelos (stone apple or bael), Emblica officinalis or Phyllanthus emblica(Indian gooseberry/amla), Eugenia jambolana or Syzygium jambolana (black plum / jamun), Mangifera indica (mango) and Grewia asiatica (phalsa or falsa) that are originally reported to be indigenous to India have been investigated for their usefulness as a radioprotective agent.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this review is to summarize beneficial effects of the Indian indigenous fruits stone apple, mango, Indian gooseberry, black plum, and phalsa in mitigating radiation-induced side effects, emphasize the underlying mechanism of action for the beneficial effects and address aspects that merit detail investigations for these fruits to move towards clinical application in the near future.

METHODS

The authors data mined in Google Scholar, PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library for publications in the field from 1981 up to July 2020. The focus was on the radioprotection and the mechanism responsible for the beneficial effects, and accordingly, the articles were collated and analyzed.

RESULTS

This article emphasizes the usefulness of stone apple, mango, Indian gooseberry, black plum, and phalsa as radioprotective agents. From a mechanistic view, reports are suggestive that the beneficial effects are mediated by triggering free radical scavenging, antioxidant, anti-mutagenic and anti-inflammatory effects.

CONCLUSION

For the first time, this review addresses the beneficial effects of mango, Indian gooseberry, black plum, stone apple and phalsa as radioprotective agents. The authors suggest that future studies should be directed at understanding the selective radioprotective effects with tumor-bearing laboratory animals to understand their usefulness as radioprotective drug/s during radiotherapy and as a food supplement to protect people getting exposed to low doses of radiation in occupational settings. Phase I clinical trial studies are also required to ascertain the optimal dose and the schedule to be followed with the standardized extract of these fruits. The most important aspect is that these fruits are a part of the diet, have been consumed since the beginning of mankind, are non-toxic, possess diverse medicinal properties, have easy acceptability all of which will help take research forward and be of benefit to patients, occupational workers, agribased sectors and pharma industries.

Beneficial effects of anthocyanin-rich peels of Myrtaceae fruits on chemically-induced liver fibrosis and carcinogenesis in mice

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) arising from fibrosis/cirrhosis is the most common type of primary liver cancer. Conversely, a higher intake of fruits and vegetables might play a protective role in HCC risk. Recently, Myrtaceae family tropical fruits have raised great interest due to the high levels of anthocyanins especially in their peels, which are usually discarded upon consumption. Anthocyanins are antioxidant pigments known to have beneficial effects in vivo/in vitro cancer bioassays. Thus, we evaluated whether dietary Myrciaria jaboticaba, Syzygium cumini, and Syzygium malaccense fruit peel powders reduce fibrosis and hepatocarcinogenesis in mice. Female C3H/HeJ mice were submitted to the model of diethylnitrosamine/carbon tetrachloride-induced liver fibrosis and carcinogenesis. Concomitantly, mice received a basal diet containing 2% of M. jaboticaba, S. cumini, or S. malaccense fruit peel powders, obtained by convective drying, for 10 weeks. M. jaboticaba peel powder showed the highest levels of total anthocyanins, while S. cumini peel powder displayed the greatest diversity of these pigments. All Myrtaceae family peel powders reduced the serum levels of the liver injury marker alanine aminotransferase. M. jaboticaba peel feeding reduced the incidence of liver preneoplastic foci, hepatocyte proliferation (Ki-67), and the protein levels of hepato-mitogen tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α). M. jaboticaba peel feeding also diminished liver lipid peroxidation and increased total glutathione levels. S. cumini peel feeding reduced hepatic collagen, lipid peroxidation, and TNF-α levels while increased catalase activity. Although S. malaccense peel powder, which displayed the lowest anthocyanin levels, decreased oxidative stress, and cytokine levels, no effects were observed on liver fibrosis or preneoplastic lesion outcomes. Findings indicate a protective effect of anthocyanin-rich M. jaboticaba and S. cumini peel powder feeding on preneoplastic lesion development and fibrosis, respectively. Results indicate that differential biological responses may be attributed to distinct anthocyanin profiles and levels, assigning a functional/market value to the underutilized peel fraction.

Protective and curative effects of the sea cucumber Holothuria atra extract against DMBA-induced hepatorenal diseases in rats

Oxidative stress is a common mechanism contributing to the initiation and progression of hepatic damage. Hence there is a great demand for the development of agents with potent antioxidant effect. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the efficacy of Holothuria atra extract (HaE) as an antioxidant against 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene- (DMBA-) induced hepatorenal dysfunction. Experimental animals were divided into two main groups: protective and curative. Each group was then divided into five subgroups pre- or posttreated either with distilled water (DMBA subgroups) or with HaE (200 mg/kg body weight) for seven and fourteen days. Single oral administration of DMBA (15 mg/kg body weight) to Wistar rats resulted in a significant increase in the serum liver enzymes and kidney function's parameters. DMBA increased level of liver malondialdehyde (MDA), decreased levels of reduced glutathione (GSH), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) in the liver tissue, and induced liver histopathological alterations. Pre- or posttreatment with HaE orally for 14 days significantly reversed the hepatorenal alterations induced following DMBA administration. In conclusion, HaE exhibits good hepatoprotective, curative, and antioxidant potential against DMBA-induced hepatorenal dysfunction in rats that might be due to decreased free radical generation.