Anti-cancer Research on Arnebiae Radix-derived Naphthoquinone in Recent Five Years

Abstract

Background: In recent years, many naphthoquinone compounds with anticancer activity have been identified in Arnebiae Radix, and some of them have the potential to be developed into anticancer drugs. Objective: This article aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the anticancer effects of naphthoquinone compounds through a detailed review of literature and Chinese patents, and discuss their potential to be developed as anticancer drugs for clinical application. Methods: Research papers were collected through the databases of PubMed, Cnki and SciDirect using keyword searches “naphthoquinone compounds” and “anticancer”. The keywords of “shikonin” and “shikonin derivatives” were also used in PubMed, Cnki and SciDirect databases to collect research articles. The Chinese patents were collected using the Cnki patent database. Results: Naphthoquinone compounds have been found to possess anti-cancer activity, and their modes of action are associated with inducing apoptosis, inhibiting cancer cell proliferation, promoting autophagy in cancer cells, anti-cancer angiogenesis and inhibition of cell adhesion, invasion and metastasis, inhibiting glycolysis and inhibiting DNA topoisomerase activity. Conclusion: Most of the naphthoquinone compounds show effective anti-cancer activity in vitro. The structure modification of naphthoquinone aims to develop anti-cancer drugs with high efficacy and low toxicity.