Lycorine: A prospective natural lead for anticancer drug discovery

Mridul Roy; Long Liang; Xiaojuan Xiao; Peifu Feng; Mao Ye; Jing Liu

doi:10.1016/j.biopha.2018.07.147

Lycorine: A prospective natural lead for anticancer drug discovery

Biomed Pharmacother. 2018 Nov:107:615-624. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2018.07.147. Epub 2018 Aug 14.

Authors

Mridul Roy¹, Long Liang², Xiaojuan Xiao², Peifu Feng³, Mao Ye⁴, Jing Liu⁵

Affiliations

¹ Molecular Science and Biomedicine Laboratory, State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Biology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China; Molecular Biology Research Center & Center for Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha 410078, China.
² Molecular Biology Research Center & Center for Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha 410078, China.
³ Molecular Science and Biomedicine Laboratory, State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Biology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China.
⁴ Molecular Science and Biomedicine Laboratory, State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Biology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China. Electronic address: goldleaf@hnu.edu.cn.
⁵ Molecular Biology Research Center & Center for Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha 410078, China. Electronic address: liujing2@sklmg.edu.cn.

Abstract

Nature is the most abundant source for novel drug discovery. Lycorine is a natural alkaloid with immense therapeutic potential. Lycorine is active in a very low concentration and with high specificity against a number of cancers both in vivo and in vitro and against various drug-resistant cancer cells. This review summarized the therapeutic effect and the anticancer mechanisms of lycorine. At the same time, we have discussed the pharmacology and comparative structure-activity relationship for the anticancer activity of this compound. The researches outlined in this paper serve as a foundation to explain lycorine as an important lead compound for new generation anticancer drug design and provide the principle for the development of biological strategies to utilize lycorine in the treatment of cancers.

Keywords: Anti-cancer mechanism; Lycorine; Structure-activity relationship.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Amaryllidaceae Alkaloids / chemistry
Amaryllidaceae Alkaloids / pharmacokinetics
Amaryllidaceae Alkaloids / pharmacology*
Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology*
Biological Products / pharmacology*
Drug Discovery*
Humans
Models, Biological
Phenanthridines / chemistry
Phenanthridines / pharmacokinetics
Phenanthridines / pharmacology*
Structure-Activity Relationship

Substances

Amaryllidaceae Alkaloids
Antineoplastic Agents
Biological Products
Phenanthridines
lycorine