Abstract
Metabolite profiling of cancer cells presents many opportunities for anticancer drug discovery. The Chinese, Indian, and African flora, in particular, offers a diverse source of anticancer therapeutics as documented in traditional folklores. In-depth scientific information relating to mechanisms of action, quality control, and safety profile will promote their extensive usage in cancer therapy. Metabolomics may be a more holistic strategy to gain valuable insights into the anticancer mechanisms of action of plants but this has remained largely unexplored. This review, therefore, presents the available metabolomics studies on the anticancer effects of herbal medicines commonly used in Africa and Asia. In addition, we present some scientifically understudied ‘candidate plants’ for cancer metabolomics studies and highlight the relevance of metabolomics in addressing other challenges facing the drug development of anticancer herbs. Finally, we discussed the challenges of using metabolomics to uncover the underlying mechanisms of potential anticancer herbs and the progress made in this regard.
Highlights
The heterogeneous nature of tumour cells and the genetic diversity in cancer patients have compelled the re-assessment of the magic bullet approach in combating cancer
The metabolome is a complement of metabolites involved in intermediary metabolism and whose levels are related to genetic expression (Figure 1)
To evaluate the alterations in metabolism that are induced by cancer cells, Otto Warburg observed that these cells constitutively metabolize glucose via glycolysis and produce lactate even in the presence of abundant oxygen [28]
Summary
The heterogeneous nature of tumour cells and the genetic diversity in cancer patients have compelled the re-assessment of the magic bullet approach in combating cancer. There is an increasing interest in multi-targeted therapies to enhance the pharmacological efficacy of anticancer drugs and limit chemo-resistance This involves simultaneous actions of multiple chemicals on many molecular targets or synergistic actions on a single site. Most clinically approved plant-derived anticancer compounds received approval decades after the initial identification of their medicinal effect (Table 1). This timeframe has not changed significantly in recent times. Research into traditional herbal medicines’ anticancer mechanisms and toxicity profiles should be encouraged to provide in-depth scientific underpinnings for their use and provide information on potential herb-drug interaction to ensure patient safety. We present the challenges and progress in applying metabolomics to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of anticancer herbs
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