title: Plant lectins, from ancient sugar-binding proteins to emerging anti-cancer drugs in apoptosis and autophagy.
abstract: Ubiquitously distributed in different plant species, plant lectins are highly diverse carbohydrate-binding proteins of non-immune origin. They have interesting pharmacological activities and currently are of great interest to thousands of people working on biomedical research in cancer-related problems. It has been widely accepted that plant lectins affect both apoptosis and autophagy by modulating representative signalling pathways involved in Bcl-2 family, caspase family, p53, PI3K/Akt, ERK, BNIP3, Ras-Raf and ATG families, in cancer. Plant lectins may have a role as potential new anti-tumour agents in cancer drug discovery. Thus, here we summarize these findings on pathway- involved plant lectins, to provide a comprehensive perspective for further elucidating their potential role as novel anti-cancer drugs, with respect to both apoptosis and autophagy in cancer pathogenesis, and future therapy.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy & Collaborative Innovation Center of Biotherapy, Department of Dermatology, Department of Emergency Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, China; School of Pharmacy and The First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610500, China; Sichuan Province College Key Laboratory of Structure-Specific Small Molecule Drugs, Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610500, China.
authors.forename: Q-L
authors.initials: QL
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: S-Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: D-Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Y-J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ouyang
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D001343:Autophagy / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D037121:Plant Lectins / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D037121:Plant Lectins