Anticancer Potential of Flavonoids: An Overview with an Emphasis on Tangeretin

Abstract

Natural compounds with pharmacological activity, flavonoids have been the subject of an exponential increase in studies in the field of scientific research focused on therapeutic purposes due to their bioactive properties, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, antibacterial, antiviral, neuroprotective, radioprotective, and antitumor activities. The biological potential of flavonoids, added to their bioavailability, cost-effectiveness, and minimal side effects, direct them as promising cytotoxic anticancer compounds in the optimization of therapies and the search for new drugs in the treatment of cancer, since some extensively antineoplastic therapeutic approaches have become less effective due to tumor resistance to drugs commonly used in chemotherapy. In this review, we emphasize the antitumor properties of tangeretin, a flavonoid found in citrus fruits that has shown activity against some hallmarks of cancer in several types of cancerous cell lines, such as antiproliferative, apoptotic, anti-inflammatory, anti-metastatic, anti-angiogenic, antioxidant, regulatory expression of tumor-suppressor genes, and epigenetic modulation.

Keywords: anti-cancer; anti-metastatic; anti-proliferative; cancer; flavonoids; tangeretin.

Figure 5

Antitumor potential of tangeretin. Anticancer activity of tangeretin under some cancer characteristics promotes uncontrolled cell progression and resistance to therapies in different types of tumors. Sustaining proliferative signaling: [127,152,160,161,167,168]; evading growth suppressors: [127,167]; nonmutational epigenetic reprogramming: [167]; tumor-promoting inflammation: [161,169]; activating invasion and metastasis: [151,170,171]; inducing or accessing vasculature: [170,172]; genome instability and mutation: [143]; resisting cell death: [128,129,173]; deregulating cellular metabolism: [92,174]. Parts of the figure are drawn by using pictures from Servier Medical Art. Servier Medical Art by Servier is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ accessed on 12 August 2023).

Figure 1

Structure and classification of polyphenols. Polyphenols are phytochemical compounds found in plants, fruits, and natural compounds, divided into non-flavonoids and flavonoids.

Figure 2

Main molecular structure of flavonoids.

Figure 3

Subclassification of flavonoids.

Figure 4

Properties and some anticancer action mechanisms of flavonoids. Parts of the figure are drawn by using pictures from Servier Medical Art. Servier Medical Art by Servier is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ accessed on 12 August 2023).