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Review
. 2021 Mar 10;26(6):1521.
doi: 10.3390/molecules26061521.

Peppers: A "Hot" Natural Source for Antitumor Compounds

Micael Rodrigues Cunha  1   2 , Maurício Temotheo Tavares  2   3 , Thais Batista Fernandes  2 , Roberto Parise-Filho  2
Affiliations
Review

Peppers: A "Hot" Natural Source for Antitumor Compounds

Micael Rodrigues Cunha et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Piper, Capsicum, and Pimenta are the main genera of peppers consumed worldwide. The traditional use of peppers by either ancient civilizations or modern societies has raised interest in their biological applications, including cytotoxic and antiproliferative effects. Cellular responses upon treatment with isolated pepper-derived compounds involve mechanisms of cell death, especially through proapoptotic stimuli in tumorigenic cells. In this review, we highlight naturally occurring secondary metabolites of peppers with cytotoxic effects on cancer cell lines. Available mechanisms of cell death, as well as the development of analogues, are also discussed.

Keywords: Capsicum; Piper; antitumor activity; apoptosis; peppers; secondary metabolites.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structures of the reported Piper sp. cytotoxic compounds and analogues.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structures of the reported Piper sp. cytotoxic compounds and analogues.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Chemical structures of the reported Capsicum sp. cytotoxic compounds and some analogues.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Chemical structures of the reported Pimenta dioica cytotoxic compounds.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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