Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2016 Jul 27;21(8):931.
doi: 10.3390/molecules21080931.

Capsaicin: From Plants to a Cancer-Suppressing Agent

Angela M Chapa-Oliver  1 , Laura Mejía-Teniente  2
Affiliations
Review

Capsaicin: From Plants to a Cancer-Suppressing Agent

Angela M Chapa-Oliver et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Capsaicinoids are plant secondary metabolites, capsaicin being the principal responsible for the pungency of chili peppers. It is biosynthesized through two pathways involved in phenylpropanoid and fatty acid metabolism. Plant capsaicin concentration is mainly affected by genetic, environmental and crop management factors. However, its synthesis can be enhanced by the use of elicitors. Capsaicin is employed as food additive and in pharmaceutical applications. Additionally, it has been found that capsaicin can act as a cancer preventive agent and shows wide applications against various types of cancer. This review is an approach in contextualizing the use of controlled stress on the plant to increase the content of capsaicin, highlighting its synthesis and its potential use as anticancer agent.

Keywords: apoptosis; cancer; capsaicin; cell death; elicitors; stress.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structure of capsaicin [7].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Capsaicin biosynthetic pathway modified from Arora et al. [11]. Enzymes involved in the biosynthetic pathway: PAL, phenylalanine ammonia lyase; C4H, cinnamic acid 4-hydroxylase; Ca3H, coumaric acid 3-hydroxylase; COMT, caffeic acid O-methyltransferase; pAMT, putative aminotransferase; BCAT, branchedchain amino acid transferase; FAS fatty acid synthase complex, KAS, β-ketoacyl-[acyl-carrier-protein] (ACP) synthase; ACL, acyl carrier protein; FATA, acyl-ACP thioesterase; Desnaturase; ACS, acyl-CoA synthase; CS, capsaicin synthase.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Summary of some of the pro-apoptotic mechanisms and anti-cancer activity of capsaicin in some cancerous cells [17,52,62,72,73,74].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Kim S., Park M., Yeon S.I., Kim Y.M., Lee J.M., Seo E., Choi J., Cheong K., Kim K.-T., Jung K., et al. Genome sequence of the hot pepper provides insights into the evolution of pungency in Capsicum species. Nat Genet. 2014;46:270–279. doi: 10.1038/ng.2877. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Aguilar-Meléndez A., Morrell P.L., Roose M.L., Kim S.C. Genetic diversity and structure in semiwild and domesticated chiles (Capsicum annuum; Solanaceae) from Mexico. Am. J. Bot. 2009;96:1190–1202. doi: 10.3732/ajb.0800155. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Materska M., Perucka I. Antioxidant Activity of the Main Phenolic Compounds Isolated from Hot Pepper Fruit (Capsicum annuum L.) J. Agric. Food Chem. 2005;53:1750–1756. doi: 10.1021/jf035331k. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kehie M., Kumaria S., Tandon P. Manipulation of culture strategies to enhance capsaicin biosynthesis in suspension and immobilized cell cultures of Capsicum chinense Jacq. cv. Naga King Chili. Bioprocess Biosyst. Eng. 2014;37:1055–1063. doi: 10.1007/s00449-013-1076-2. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Govindarajan V.S., Sathyanarayana M.N. Capsicum-production, technology, chemistry, and quality. Part V. Impact on Physiology, Pharmacology, Nutrition, and Metabolism; Structure, Pungency, Pain, and Desensitization Sequences. Crit. Rev. Food Sci. Nutr. 1991;29:435–473. doi: 10.1080/10408399109527536. - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms