Abstract
Zoopharmacognosy is the multidisciplinary approach of the self-medication behavior of many kinds of animals. Recent studies showed the presence of antitumoral secondary metabolites in some of the plants employed by animals and their use for the same therapeutic purposes in humans. Other related and sometimes confused term is Zootherapy, which consists on the employment of animal parts and/or their by-products such as toxins, venoms, etc., to treat different human ailments. Therefore, the aim of this work is to provide a brief insight for the use of Zoopharmacology (comprising Zoopharmacognosy and Zootherapy) as new paths to discover drugs studying animal behavior and/or using compounds derived from animals. This work is focused on the approaches related to cancer, in order to propose a new promising line of research to overcome multidrug resistance (MDR). This novel subject will encourage the use of new alternative prospective ways to find new medicines.
Highlights
Cancer comprises a group of diseases characterized by abnormal cells grown without control, with the potential to invade and to spread through the body [1]
All the therapeutic options available can reduce tumor size and increase life expectancy [2,3], cancer is still considered one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide according to the World Health Organization (WHO) [4]
Cancer is a multifactorial and multitarget disease treated, at present, mainly employing chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy. These therapies carry the appearance of detrimental effects mainly due to multidrug resistance (MDR)
Summary
Cancer comprises a group of diseases characterized by abnormal cells grown without control, with the potential to invade and to spread through the body [1]. The secondary metabolites present in this plant, such as sesquiterpene lactones (e.g.,: Vernodaline) and steroid glucosides (e.g.,: Vernioside) have shown anthelmintic, antiamoebic, anticancer (inhibition of tumor promotion), immunosuppressive and antibiotic activities [15,16] Nowadays, it is continued studying the possible therapeutic application and mechanisms (mainly apoptotic) of this extract to the treatment of prostate [24], neuroblastoma [25], and breast cancer, showing in the latter case a synergistic effect in combination with doxorubicin [26]. Other species of this genus have attractive naphthohydroquinone compounds such as Rubioncolin C from Rubia podantha Diels, which inhibited AKT/mTOR/p70S6K signaling pathway and NF-κβ factor inducing apoptosis and autophagy in HCT116 and HepG2 cell lines [55] These findings establish Rubia naphthoquinones as an attractive possible multitarget therapeutic candidates against human cancer, alone or in combination with other antitumoral agents to overcome drug resistance and achieve better outcomes. The study of animal self-medication behavior offers a novel and complementary line of multidisciplinary research for targeting plants with bioactive properties for the treatment of resistant pathogens and cancer in humans and their livestock by plant-based medicines [15,20,43]
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