In this review we report the recent advances in anticancer activity of the family of natural occurring flavonoids, covering the time span of the last five years. The bibliographic data will be grouped, on the basis of biological information, in two great categories: reports in which the extract plants bioactivity is reported and the identification of each flavonoid is present or not, and reports in which the anticancer activity is attributable to purified and identified flavonoids from plants. Wherever possible, the targets and mechanisms of action as well as the structure-activity relationships of the molecules will be reported. Also, in the review it was thoroughly investigated the recent discovery on flavonoids containing the 2-phenyl-4H-chromen-4-one system even if some examples of unusual flavonoids, bearing a non-aromatic B-ring or other ring condensed to the base structure are reported.
Keywords: Bioactive compounds; Chemoprevention; Chemoprotection; Chemotherapeutic agents; Flavonoids.
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