Inhibition of Hedgehog/Gli Signaling by Botanicals: A Review of Compounds with Potential Hedgehog Pathway Inhibitory Activities.

Inhibition of Hedgehog/Gli Signaling by Botanicals: A Review of Compounds with Potential Hedgehog Pathway Inhibitory Activities. Curr Cancer Drug Targets. 2013 May 9; Authors: Drenkhahn SK, Jackson GA, Slusarz A, Starkey NJ, Lubahn DB Abstract The hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway is an important therapeutic target in cancer; involvement of the Hh pathway has been shown in a variety of cancers including basal cell carcinoma, medulloblastoma, leukemia, and gastrointestinal, breast, prostate, lung, and pancreatic cancers.Currently, several Hh pathway inhibitory drugs are in clinical development, and the FDA recently approved Erivedge (vismodegib) from Curis/Genentech.These new drugs are effective in many, but not all patients. In fact there are documented reports of tumors developing mutations that confer resistance to the drugs.This highlights the importance of finding second generation drugs that can be used on cancers that develop resistance to the first generation Hh inhibitors. Botanicals may serve as the backbone for such research. The gold-standard pathway inhibitor, cyclopamine, is itself a naturally occurring alkaloid found in Veratrum californicum. In this review we will summarize the available literature on botanical compounds in Hh-related studies. In particular we will look at curcumin, genistein, EGCG, resveratrol, quercetin, baicalen, and apigenin along with novel compounds isolated from Southeast Asian plants, such as the potent su...
Source: Current Cancer Drug Targets - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Curr Cancer Drug Targets Source Type: research