Silibinin: a potential old drug for cancer therapy

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Silibinin is mixture of flavonolignans extracted from milk thistle and often has been used in the treatment of acute and chronic liver disorders caused by toxins, drug, alcohol and hepatitis and gall bladder disorders for its antioxidant and hepatoprotective properties.

Areas covered: However, increasing evidence suggest that silibinin is not solely limited in the treatment of these diseases. Further research suggests that silymarin may function diversely and may serve as a novel therapy for cancer therapy, such as lung cancer, prostatic cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, bladder cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma by regulating cancer cells growth, proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis and many other mechanism.

Expert commentary: In this review, in order to provide potential new treatment for these cancer, we summarize the recent anti-cancer findings of silibinin in these cancer and clarify the mechanisms of this effect.

KEYWORDS:

• Silibinin
• lung cancer
• prostatic cancer
• colon cancer
• breast cancer
• bladder cancer
• hepatocellular carcinoma

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.

Notes on contributors

Xing-Xing Zhu

Lin-Yan Qian, Hai Zou and Xing-Xing Zhu planned the article and contributed to data collection, discussing content, writing and reviewing the article. Qiang He, Ya-Hui Ding and Yi Wu conceived the article and participated in its design and helping to writing the article.

Ya-Hui Ding

Lin-Yan Qian, Hai Zou and Xing-Xing Zhu planned the article and contributed to data collection, discussing content, writing and reviewing the article. Qiang He, Ya-Hui Ding and Yi Wu conceived the article and participated in its design and helping to writing the article.

Yi Wu

Lin-Yan Qian, Hai Zou and Xing-Xing Zhu planned the article and contributed to data collection, discussing content, writing and reviewing the article. Qiang He, Ya-Hui Ding and Yi Wu conceived the article and participated in its design and helping to writing the article.

Lin-Yan Qian

Lin-Yan Qian, Hai Zou and Xing-Xing Zhu planned the article and contributed to data collection, discussing content, writing and reviewing the article. Qiang He, Ya-Hui Ding and Yi Wu conceived the article and participated in its design and helping to writing the article.

Hai Zou

Lin-Yan Qian, Hai Zou and Xing-Xing Zhu planned the article and contributed to data collection, discussing content, writing and reviewing the article. Qiang He, Ya-Hui Ding and Yi Wu conceived the article and participated in its design and helping to writing the article.

Qiang He

Lin-Yan Qian, Hai Zou and Xing-Xing Zhu planned the article and contributed to data collection, discussing content, writing and reviewing the article. Qiang He, Ya-Hui Ding and Yi Wu conceived the article and participated in its design and helping to writing the article.