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Review
. 2015 Feb;48(1):17-28.
doi: 10.1111/cpr.12155. Epub 2014 Dec 9.

Plant lectins, from ancient sugar-binding proteins to emerging anti-cancer drugs in apoptosis and autophagy

Q-L Jiang  1 , S Zhang, M Tian, S-Y Zhang, T Xie, D-Y Chen, Y-J Chen, J He, J Liu, L Ouyang, X Jiang
Affiliations
Review

Plant lectins, from ancient sugar-binding proteins to emerging anti-cancer drugs in apoptosis and autophagy

Q-L Jiang et al. Cell Prolif. 2015 Feb.

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.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mechanisms of apoptosis in cancer.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mechanisms of autophagy in cancer.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Signalling pathway of plant lectins involved in apoptosis.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Signalling pathway of plant lectins involved in autophagy.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Potential therapeutic roles of plant lectins in cancer.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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