Research Progress on the Antitumor Effects of Rhein: Literature Review

Title:Research Progress on the Antitumor Effects of Rhein: Literature Review

Volume: 17 Issue: 12

Author(s): Chao Wu, Hongyan Cao, Hua Zhou, Lin Sun, Jingui Xue, Jianyuan Li, Yanqin Bian, Runfei Sun, Shu Dong, Ping Liu and Mingyu Sun*

Affiliation:

• Key Laboratory of Liver and Kidney Diseases, Institute of Liver Diseases, Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai,China

Keywords: Angiogenesis, anthraquinone, antitumor, apoptosis, invasion, migration, proliferation, rhein.

Abstract: Background: Rhein (1,8-dihydroxy-3-carboxyanthraquinone) is a monomer of anthraquinone derivatives mainly found in Polygonaceae plants such as Rhubarb, and Cuspidatum, widely used in the traditional Chinese medicine with many pharmacological activities, such as antitumor, anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic effects, and regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism.

Objective: To conclude the role of Rhein in cancer control and its mechanisms for its futher deep research and potential clinical application.

Method: All kinds of reports previously related to Rhein from PubMed datebase were collected, integrated and analyzed.

Results: Rhein could control many cancer cells by regulating their proliferation and apoptosis, invasion and migration, especially intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis pathways induced by Rhein plays the core role in cancer control. For good inhibitory role in NF-κB pathway, the Ras/Raf/MEK (MAPK)/ERK and PTEN/PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathways are other two key pathways regulated by Rhein with its role in antiphosphorylation of ERK, PI3K and AKT to control many cancers' development which frequently dysregulated in cancer, involved in the activation, proliferation, invasion, and migration of cancer cells.

Conclusion: Rhein is a potential cancer treatment agent..

Cite this article as:

Wu Chao, Cao Hongyan, Zhou Hua, Sun Lin, Xue Jingui, Li Jianyuan, Bian Yanqin, Sun Runfei, Dong Shu, Liu Ping and Sun Mingyu*, Research Progress on the Antitumor Effects of Rhein: Literature Review, Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry 2017; 17 (12) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1871520615666150930112631