Scopoletin: Anticancer potential and mechanism of action

Abstract

Cancer is considered a leading cause of death worldwide due to its high morbidity and mortality rate. Conventional treatments for cancer therapy, such as chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, have been hampered by their side effects. Natural product-derived plants have been used for decades to treat diseases. Compared to conventional therapy, natural product has the potential to be effective against cancer with fewer side effects. This current review discussed the potential of scopoletin, a coumarin present in many edible plants, which elicits anticancer properties through multiple mechanisms, including modulating cell cycle arrest, inducing apoptosis, and regulating multiple signaling pathways. Understanding these mechanisms highlights the potential of scopoletin as a candidate for chemoprevention and chemotherapy.

Keywords

Scopoletin / Coumarin / Anticancer / Signaling pathway / Cell cycle arrest / Apoptosis

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Funding

The authors received no extramural funding for the study.

Authors’ contributions

Conceptualization: RMD and LDA; literature research: LM, RMD, and LDA; visualization: LM and LDA; writing – original draft preparation: LM, RMD, and LDA; writing – review and editing: ANT, AWS, and LDA. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Publisher’s note

The Publisher of the Journal remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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