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Review
. 2019 Jun 5:852:107-124.
doi: 10.1016/j.ejphar.2019.02.022. Epub 2019 Feb 14.

Anticancer and antimetastatic potential of enterolactone: Clinical, preclinical and mechanistic perspectives

Aniket V Mali  1 , Subhash B Padhye  2 , Shrikant Anant  3 , Mahabaleshwar V Hegde  4 , Shivajirao S Kadam  5
Affiliations
Review

Anticancer and antimetastatic potential of enterolactone: Clinical, preclinical and mechanistic perspectives

Aniket V Mali et al. Eur J Pharmacol. .

Abstract

Currently cancer is the second leading cause of death globally and worldwide incidence and mortality rates of all cancers of males and females are rising tremendously. In spite of advances in chemotherapy and radiation, metastasis and recurrence are considered as the major causes of cancer related deaths. Hence there is a mounting need to develop new therapeutic modalities to treat metastasis and recurrence in cancers. A significant amount of substantiation from epidemiological, clinical and laboratory research highlights the importance of diet and nutrition in cancer chemoprevention. Enterolactone (EL) is a bioactive phenolic metabolite known as a mammalian lignan derived from dietary lignans. Here in we review the reported anti-cancer properties of EL at preclinical as well as clinical level. Several in-vivo and in-vitro studies have provided strong evidence that EL exhibits potent anti-cancer and/or protective properties against different cancers including breast, prostate, colo-rectal, lung, ovarian, endometrial, cervical cancers and hepatocellular carcinoma. Reported laboratory studies indicate a clear role for EL in preventing cancer progression at various stages including cancer cell proliferation, survival, angiogenesis, inflammation and metastasis. In clinical settings, EL has been reported to reduce risk, decrease mortality rate and improve overall survival particularly in breast, prostate, colon, gastric and lung cancer. Further, the in-vitro human cell culture studies provide strong evidence of the anticancer and antimetastatic mechanisms of EL in several cancers. This comprehensive review supports an idea of projecting EL as a promising candidate for developing anticancer drug or adjunct dietary supplements and nutraceuticals.

Keywords: Anti-metastatic activity; Anticancer; Dietary Lignans; Enterolactone; Flax seeds; Mammalian Lignans.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

This work was supported by an institutional funding. Authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Metabolism of dietary lignans obtained from the major food sources to produce enterolignans in humans.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Anticancer activities of EL with several molecular targets and mechanistic endpoints investigated in breast, prostate, colon, lung, osteosarcoma, monocytic leukemia human cancer cell lines.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Major signaling pathways modulated by Enterolactone to arrest carcinogenesis and metastasis, particularly in breast cancer and lung cancer.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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