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Review
. 2022 Dec 14;14(12):2793.
doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics14122793.

Natural Products from Mangroves: An Overview of the Anticancer Potential of Avicennia marina

Federico Cerri  1 , Marco Giustra  2 , Yaprak Anadol  3 , Giulia Tomaino  2 , Paolo Galli  1   3   4 , Massimo Labra  2 , Luca Campone  2 , Miriam Colombo  2
Affiliations
Review

Natural Products from Mangroves: An Overview of the Anticancer Potential of Avicennia marina

Federico Cerri et al. Pharmaceutics. .

Abstract

Exploring the potential of natural extracts for pharmaceutical applications in the treatment of different diseases is an emerging field of medical research, owing to the tremendous advantages that they can offer. These include compound sustainability due to the natural origin and virtually unlimited availability. In addition, they contribute to promoting the countries in which they are extracted and manufactured. For this reason, wild active compounds derived from plants are attracting increasing interest due to their beneficial properties. Among them, Avicennia marina has been recently recognized as a potential source of natural substances with therapeutic activities for anti-cancer treatment. A. marina beneficially supplies different chemical compounds, including cyclic triterpenoids, flavonoids, iridoids, naphtaquinones, polyphenols, polysaccharides, and steroids, most of them exhibiting potent antitumor activity. The in vivo and in vitro studies on different models of solid tumors demonstrated its dose-dependent activity. Moreover, the possibility to formulate the A. marina extracted molecules in nanoparticles allowed researchers to ameliorate the therapeutic outcome of treatments exploiting improved selectivity toward cancer cells, thus reducing the side effects due to nonspecific spread.

Keywords: Avicennia marina; anticancer activity; bioactive natural compounds; bioprospecting; cytotoxicity; natural products.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Main classes of compounds extractable from Avicennia marina: cyclic triterpenoids, flavonoids, iridoids, naphtaquinones, polyphenols, polysaccharides, and steroids. The picture was taken in the Al Zorah mangrove lagoon (Ajman, UAE).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Naphthalene derivatives from A. marina.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Flavones from A. marina.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Iridoid glucosides from A. marina.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Terpenoids from A. marina.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Structure of 6′-O-(n-butanol) ilekudinoside B ester.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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