Title:Germacrone, A Novel and Safe Anticancer Agent from Genus Curcuma: A Review of
its Mechanism
Volume: 23
Issue: 13
Author(s): Guanhua Lou, Yan Huang, Yu Wang, Shiyun Chen, Chang Liu, Ying Li and Jianan Feng*
Affiliation:
- Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Sichuan Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
Keywords:
Anticancer effect, natural sources, cell cycle arrest, ferroptosis, autophagy, apoptosis.
Abstract: Germacrone, a kind of natural sesquiterpenoid compound, has been reported to exhibit many pharmacological properties, especially the anticancer effect. Many in vitro experiments have been performed on various cancer cell
lines, trying to explore their anticancer mechanism. Aiming at investigating the anticancer effect of germacrone, this
article reviews the extant information on existing literature about germacrone-related studies. The anticancer mechanisms and clinical usages of germacrone are summarized. Literature databases (such as PubMed and CNKI) are used to
search the current studies and experimental research about the anticancer effect information of germacrone. Anticancer
mechanism of germacrone includes cell cycle arrest inducing, programmed cell death (apoptosis, autophagy, pyroptosis
and ferroptosis) inducing, and estrogen-related genes mediating. Structural modification and analogue design are worthy of further study in the future.