Table 1.

Therapeutic strategies for cancer using saikosaponins. Related references are listed.

Saikosaponins	Mode of action	Target molecules	Cancer model	Ref.
SSa	Growth inhibition	Not determined	Liver cancer	[12]
	Differentiation	Not determined	Glioma	[13]
	Increase in sub-G1 peak	Not determined	Liver cancer	[14]
	G1 phase arrest	p15, p16	Liver cancer	[15]
	G1 phase arrest	Erk, p15, p16	Liver cancer	[16]
	Apoptosis	Bcl-2, c-Myc, p53, p21	Breast cancer	[17]
	Apoptosis	Caspase-2, Caspase-8	Colon cancer	[18]
	Apoptosis, DNA damage	Caspase-4, Caspase-2	Colon cancer	[19]
SSb	G1 phase arrest	PKC	Melanoma	[20]
	Differentiation	PKC	Melanoma	[21]
SSd	Growth inhibition	Not determined	Liver cancer	[12]
	Differentiation	Not determined	Glioma	[13]
	Apoptosis	Not determined	Liver cancer	[22]
	G1 phase arrest, apoptosis	p53, p21, Bax, Fas (L), NF-κB	Liver cancer	[23]
	G1 phase arrest, apoptosis	p53, p21, Bax, Fas (L)	Lung cancer	[24]
	Inhibition of invasiveness and metastasis	MMP-2, MMP-13, TIMP-2	Liver cancer	[25]
	Autophagic cell death	CAMKK, AMPK, mTORC	Apoptosis-resistant cancer	[26]
	G1 phase arrest, apoptosis	p53, p21, Bax, Bcl-2	Undifferentiated thyroid cancer	[27]
	G1 phase arrest, apoptosis	p53, p21, Bcl-2, cytochrome c	Prostate cancer	[28]
	Apoptosis	STAT3, HIF-1a, Cox-2	Liver cancer	[29]
	Apoptosis	JNK, p38, p53, cytochrome c	Melanoma	[30]
	Inhibition of invasiveness, metastasis, stemness	GSK3β, Wnt/β-catenin	Prostate cancer	[31]