Abstract
To date, natural products are widely used as pharmaceutical agents for many human diseases and cancers. One of the most popular natural products that have been studied for anticancer properties is thymoquinone (TQ). As a bioactive compound of Nigella sativa, TQ has shown anticancer activities through the inhibition of cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. The anticancer efficacy of TQ is being investigated in several human cancers such as pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, hepatic cancer, cervical cancer, and leukemia. Even though TQ induces apoptosis by regulating the expression of pro- apoptotic and anti-apoptotic genes in many cancers, the TQ effect mechanism on such cancers is not yet fully understood. Therefore, the present review has highlighted the TQ effect mechanisms on several signaling pathways and expression of tumor suppressor genes (TSG). Data from relevant published experimental articles on TQ from 2015 to June 2020 were selected by using Google Scholar and PubMed search engines. The present study investigated the effectiveness of TQ alone or in combination with other anticancer therapeutic agents, such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors on cancers, as a future anticancer therapy nominee by using nanotechnology.
Highlights
Thymoquinone (TQ) is one of the bioactive constituents in Nigella sativa (N. sativa), black seed, or Alhabba Al-Sauda [1]
The results revealed that TQ induced apoptosis by upregulating TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) and caspase-3, and downregulating Bcl2 and transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1)
Overexpression of the protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) gene hascan increased the activity of PTK and its downstream signalingkinase pathways, promoting cell proliferation for the ATP binding sitemodulated of PTK and reduce tyrosine phosphorylation
Summary
Thymoquinone (TQ) is one of the bioactive constituents in Nigella sativa (N. sativa), black seed, or Alhabba Al-Sauda [1]. TQ and other N. sativa components such as α-pinene, p-cymene, and monoterpenes have been used as an antineoplastic, antioxidant, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory agent [2] It has shown effectiveness against several diseases, such as liver diseases [3] and brain disorders, like Parkinson’s [4] and Alzheimer’s diseases [5]. TQ demonstrates antitumor properties by regulating different targets, such as nuclear factor kappa B (NF-Kb), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ), and c-Myc [1], which resulted in caspases protein activation [17] It re-expressed tumor suppressor genes (TSG), such as p53 and Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) in lung cancer [18].
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