title: Potential of butein, a tetrahydroxychalcone to obliterate cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite the major advances made in the field of cancer biology, it still remains one of the most fatal diseases in the world. It is now well established that natural products are safe and efficacious and have high potential in the prevention and treatment of different diseases including cancer. Butein is one such compound which is now found to have anti-cancer properties against various malignancies.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To thoroughly review the literature available on the anti-cancer properties of butein against different cancers and its molecular targets.
  
  
  METHODS
  A thorough literature search has been done in PubMed for butein, its biological activities especially cancer and its molecular targets.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our search retrieved several reports on the various biological activities of butein in which around 43 articles reported that butein shows potential anti-proliferative effect against a wide range of neoplasms and the molecular target varies with cancer types. Most often it targets NF-κB and its downstream pathways. In addition, butein induces the expression of genes which mediate the cell death and apoptosis in cancer cells. It also inhibits tumor angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis in prostate, liver and bladder cancers through the inhibition of MMPs, VEGF etc. Moreover, it inhibits the overexpression of several proteins and enzymes such as STAT3, ERK, CXCR4, COX-2, Akt, EGFR, Ras etc. involved in tumorigenesis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Collectively, all these findings suggest the enormous potential and efficacy of butein as a multitargeted chemotherapeutic, chemopreventive and chemosensitizing agent against a wide range of cancers with minimal or no adverse side effects.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Biology Laboratory, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam 781039, India.
authors.forename: Ganesan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Padmavathi
authors.affiliation: Cancer Biology Laboratory, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam 781039, India.
authors.forename: Sivakumar Raju
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Rathnakaram
authors.affiliation: Cancer Biology Laboratory, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam 781039, India.
authors.forename: Javadi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Monisha
authors.affiliation: Cancer Biology Laboratory, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam 781039, India.
authors.forename: Devivasha
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bordoloi
authors.affiliation: Cancer Biology Laboratory, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam 781039, India.
authors.forename: Nand Kishor
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.affiliation: Cancer Biology Laboratory, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam 781039, India . Electronic address: kunnumakkara@iitg.ernet.in.
authors.forename: Ajaikumar B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Kunnumakkara
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor / Q000187:drug effects; D047188:Chalcones / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D015394:Molecular Structure; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000378:metabolism; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D047188:Chalcones; D016328:NF-kappa B; C040918:butein
keywords: Angiogenesis; Butein; Cancer; Multitarget; NF-κB; Phytochemical