Overview of the anticancer activity of withaferin A, an active constituent of the Indian ginseng Withania somnifera
Résumé
Cancer is still considered a “hopeless case”, besides all of the advancements in oncology research. On the other hand, the natural
products, as effective lead molecules, have gained significant interest for research due to the absence of toxic and harmful side
effects usually associated with conventional treatment methods. Medicinal properties of herbal plants are strongly evidenced in
traditionalmedicine fromancient times. In the context above, withaferin A (WA) was identified as the active principle of the plant
Withania somnifera, its molecule being reported to have excellent anticancer and tumour inhibition activities in various cell lines.
Furthermore, the in silico approaches in the medicinal chemistry ofWA revealed the biological targets and gave momentum for
the research that leads to many amazing pharmacological activities of WA which are not yet explored. This includes a broad
spectrum of anticancer actionsmanifested in different organs (breast, pancreas, colon), melanoma and B cell lymphoma, etc. This
review is an extensive survey of the most recent anticancer studies reported for WA, along with its mechanism of action and
details about its in vitro and/or in vivo behaviour.