Active Biomolecules from Vegetable Extracts with Antitumoral Activity against Pancreas Cancer: A Systematic Review (2011–2021)

Abstract

The emergence of resistance to pancreatic cancer (PC) current treatment requires the development of new therapeutic strategies. In this context, bioactive molecules from plant extracts have shown excellent properties to improve classical therapy against this type of tumor. This systematic review aims to collect all the in vitro studies related to the antiproliferative activity of isolated plant molecules that support their applicability in PC. A total of 620 articles published in the last 10 years were identified, although only 28 were finally included to meet the inclusion criteria. Our results reflect the most important biomolecules from natural compounds that induce cell death in PC and their essential mechanism of cell death, including apoptosis, pathways activated by the KRAS mutation and cycle cell arrest, among others. These in vitro studies provide an excellent molecule guide showing applications against PC and that should be tested in vivo and in clinical trials to determine their usefulness to reduce PC incidence and to improve the prognosis of these patients. However, natural compounds are isolated in small amounts, which prevents comprehensive drug screening, being necessary the role of organic synthesis for the total synthesis of natural compounds or for the synthesis of their simplified and bioactive analogs.