title: Could plant lectins become promising anti-tumour drugs for causing autophagic cell death?
abstract: Plant lectins, a group of highly diverse carbohydrate-binding proteins of non-immune origin, are ubiquitously distributed through a variety of plant species, and have recently drawn rising attention due to their remarkable ability to kill tumour cells using mechanisms implicated in autophagy. In this review, we provide a brief outline of structures of some representative plant lectins such as concanavalin A, Polygonatum cyrtonema lectin and mistletoe lectins. These can target autophagy by modulating BNIP-3, ROS-p38-p53, Ras-Raf and PI3KCI-Akt pathways, as well as Beclin-1, in many types of cancer cells. In addition, we further discuss how plant lectins are able to kill cancer cells by modulating autophagic death, for therapeutic purposes. Together, these findings provide a comprehensive perspective concerning plant lectins as promising new anti-tumour drugs, with respect to autophagic cell death in future cancer therapeutics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepato-biliary Surgery, General Hospital of PLA, Beijing, 1000853, China.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: T-T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: W-Z
authors.initials: WZ
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001343:Autophagy / Q000187:drug effects*; D003208:Concanavalin A / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D037121:Plant Lectins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D031384:Polygonatum / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D028182:Viscum album / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D037121:Plant Lectins; D003208:Concanavalin A
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