Chemopreventive mechanisms of amentoflavone: recent trends and advancements

In parallel to the continuous rise of new cancer cases all over the world, the interest of scientific community in natural anticancer agents has steadily been increased. In the past decades, numerous phytochemicals have been shown to possess a strong anticancer potential in preclinical conditions. One of such interesting compounds, derived from different plants such as ginkgo, hinoki, and St. John`s wort, is amentoflavone. In this review article, a wide range of anticancer properties of this natural biflavone are described, revealing its ability to suppress the malignant growth and lead tumor cells to apoptotic death, besides impeding also angiogenic and metastatic processes. Therefore, amentoflavone can be considered a potential lead compound for the development of novel anticancer drug candidates, definitely deserving further in vivo studies and also initiation of clinical trials. It is expected that this plant biflavone might be important, either alone or in combination with the current standard chemotherapeutics, in providing some alleviation for the continuous rise of global cancer burden.

Automated summary

This review article discusses the anticancer properties of a natural biflavone compound called amentoflavone, derived from various plants such as ginkgo, hinoki, and St. John`s wort. It has been found to suppress malignant growth, induce apoptosis in tumor cells, and inhibit angiogenesis and metastasis. Amentoflavone shows promise as a potential lead compound for the development of novel anticancer drugs, and further in vivo studies and clinical trials are warranted.