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Review
. 2022 Nov 7;27(21):7653.
doi: 10.3390/molecules27217653.

Ferulic Acid: A Natural Phenol That Inhibits Neoplastic Events through Modulation of Oncogenic Signaling

Hardeep Singh Tuli  1 , Ajay Kumar  2 , Seema Ramniwas  3 , Renuka Coudhary  1 , Diwakar Aggarwal  1 , Manoj Kumar  4 , Ujjawal Sharma  5 , Nidarshana Chaturvedi Parashar  1 , Shafiul Haque  6 , Katrin Sak  7
Affiliations
Review

Ferulic Acid: A Natural Phenol That Inhibits Neoplastic Events through Modulation of Oncogenic Signaling

Hardeep Singh Tuli et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Despite the immense therapeutic advances in the field of health sciences, cancer is still to be found among the global leading causes of morbidity and mortality. Ethnomedicinally, natural bioactive compounds isolated from various plant sources have been used for the treatment of several cancer types and have gained notable attention. Ferulic acid, a natural compound derived from various seeds, nuts, leaves, and fruits, exhibits a variety of pharmacological effects in cancer, including its proapoptotic, cell-cycle-arresting, anti-metastatic, and anti-inflammatory activities. This review study presents a thorough overview of the molecular targets and cellular signaling pathways modulated by ferulic acid in diverse malignancies, showing high potential for this phenolic acid to be developed as a candidate agent for novel anticancer therapeutics. In addition, current investigations to develop promising synergistic formulations are also discussed.

Keywords: anti-angiogenesis; anti-metastasis; apoptosis and cell cycle arrest; ferulic acid; synergism.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structure of ferulic acid and synthetic routes of its derivatives.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Molecular targets of ferulic acid in signaling processes leading to cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Bcl-2-associated X protein (BAX), BCL-2 antagonist/killer (BAK), tumor suppressor p53 (p53) and cytochrome complex (CYCS), B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), Fas-ligand (FASL), and TNFR-associated death domain (TRADD).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Major signaling pathways targeted by ferulic acid in angiogenesis and metastasis processes. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), Angiopoietin-1 (Ang1), Tyrosine-protein kinase (Tie-2), Hypoxic-inducible factor (HIF) 1α, Protein kinase B (Akt), Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), protein kinase (PKC), Nuclear factor kappa light chain enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB), Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Anti-inflammatory targets of ferulic acid.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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