title: Saponins from Chinese Medicines as Anticancer Agents.
abstract: Saponins are glycosides with triterpenoid or spirostane aglycones that demonstrate various pharmacological effects against mammalian diseases. To promote the research and development of anticancer agents from saponins, this review focuses on the anticancer properties of several typical naturally derived triterpenoid saponins (ginsenosides and saikosaponins) and steroid saponins (dioscin, polyphyllin, and timosaponin) isolated from Chinese medicines. These saponins exhibit in vitro and in vivo anticancer effects, such as anti-proliferation, anti-metastasis, anti-angiogenesis, anti-multidrug resistance, and autophagy regulation actions. In addition, related signaling pathways and target proteins involved in the anticancer effects of saponins are also summarized in this work.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, China. xuxiaohuang1125@gmail.com.
authors: Xiao-Huang
authors: XH
authors: Xu
authors: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, China. liting19890717@msn.cn.
authors: Ting
authors: T
authors: Li
authors: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, China. vivfong530@gmail.com.
authors: Chi Man Vivienne
authors: CM
authors: Fong
authors: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, China. xiaojiachen@umac.mo.
authors: Xiuping
authors: X
authors: Chen
authors: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, China. xiaojiachen@umac.mo.
authors: Xiao-Jia
authors: XJ
authors: Chen
authors: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, China. ytwang@umac.mo.
authors: Yi-Tao
authors: YT
authors: Wang
authors: College of Pharmacy, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou 350122, China. hmq1115@126.com.
authors: Ming-Qing
authors: MQ
authors: Huang
authors: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, China. jinjianlu@umac.mo.
authors: Jin-Jian
authors: JJ
authors: Lu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry*; D012503:Saponins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D012503:Saponins
keywords: cancer; mechanism; steroid saponins; target; triterpenoid saponins