Research progress and prospect on antitumor mechanism of matrine and oxymatrine / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Sophora flavescens is a traditional herb medicine in China. Matrine and oxymatrine are the primary components in S. flavescens with an outstanding anti-cancer potentials. This review aims to summarize the mechanism of tumor-inhibition of matrine and oxymatrine by screening and analyzing the recent literatures. It was found that the molecular mechanisms of tumor-inhibition of matrine and oxymatrine include the regulation of cell cycle progression, induction of cell apoptosis, anti-metastatic and anti-invasion activities, induction of autophagy of tumor cells, reversion of the multidrug resistance in cancer cells, and regulation of metabolic level in cancer cells. Further research on the molecular mechanisms of matrine and oxymatrine could reveal their cellular signaling network and gene regulation mechanism in the anticancer behaviors, so as to find more accurate tumor therapeutic targets, which have important implications not only for new drugs development in clinical application of cancers, but also for the modernizations and internationalization of Chinese medicine.