Chalcones against the hallmarks of cancer: a mini-review

Abstract

Chalcones (1,3-diphenylpropen-1-ones) are a class of flavonoids that have been shown a broad spectrum of biological activities with therapeutic potential. Naturally occurring chalcones or synthetic chalcone derivatives have been extensively investigated as anticancer compounds. Cancer is still among the leading causes of death globally, although cancer treatments have improved over the past decades. Most of chemotherapeutic drugs target proliferating tumor cells; however, the cancer cells capabilities are also associated to tumor surround microenvironment. Thereby, the search of new compounds with a broad antitumor activity is still a great challenge. The cytotoxicity mechanisms of chalcones are beyond apoptosis induction in tumor cells, which make them promising compound for cancer therapy. In this mini-review we summarized recent studies that describe the anticancer potential of chalcones related to some of hallmarks of cancer. We shed a light on sustaining proliferative signaling, tumor-promoting inflammation, activating invasion and metastasis, inducing angiogenesis and resisting cell death.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Chalcone
• flavonoid
• cancer
• hallmarks
• chemotherapy

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) for financial support; Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil for PSS post-doctoral scholarship (PNPD/CAPES – Finance Code 001); and Programa Institucional de Bolsas de Iniciação Científica (PIBIC/UFRJ) for EDNM scholarship.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding

This work was supported by Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ).