Section Review Oncologic, Endocrine & Metabolic: Novel lignans and their role in cancer chemotherapy

Abstract

There is a real need for novel anticancer agents for chemotherapy. In this regard, lignans are an extremely important class of compounds. However, few currently have applications in chemotherapy due to their severe toxicity [1]. Judging by reported applications, etoposide is the most potent lignan known in chemotherapy. It is primarily used in combination chemotherapies, for example chemotherapeutic cycles or pretreatments [2–4]. Often it is applied to treat tumour cells that have developed resistance to previously used chemotherapeutic agents [4,5]. Etoposide is still limited in its applications and common problems found in chemotherapy such as multidrug resistance (MDR) and toxicity problems are also apparent [1,5]. Therefore, the search for novel (lignan) cytostatics continues. This review covers sixteen patents showing some strategies which could potentially enlarge the scope of the use of lignans in chemotherapy.