Pancratistatin, an apoptic inducer: New horizon for targeted therapy in cancer

Abstract

Cancer is a major public health problem worldwide and considered as the most dangerous disease and deaths are countable. Current cancer therapy does not target the specific target that causes the cancer and this leads to serious side effects which can be fatal. Targeted therapy is a new horizon for treating cancer at the specified sites with least side effects and more effective than the chemotherapy and other commercial methods used for cancer treatment. Different targets for cancer are mitochondria, Fas ligand, cell progress inhibition, cell membrane disruption, and induction of death receptor and enhance the apoptotic process by different pathways. Pancratistatin, a natural compound extracted from Hymenocallis littoralis, can selectively induce apoptosis by various pathways shows marked effectiveness on cancer cells. Apoptosis is one of the mechanisms, which remove the cells that are infected with pathogens or with abnormal cell cycle. Yield of pancratistatin and its derivatives are low and chemical synthesis required but not possible and hence theE. coli used for the transformation of organic compound for production of pancratistatin basic moiety. The present review article focuses on isolation of Pancrastatin and its possible mechanism of induction of apoptosis in jurkt cells and the different methods used to study an induction of apoptosis by them. Key words: Pancrastatin, apoptosis, caspases, tumor necrosis factor (TNF).