Table 1.

Anticancer activities of ginsenosides

Ginsenosides	Functions	Cancer types	Target molecules	Refs
Rb1	Inhibition of invasion and migration	Liver cancer	Nrf2	[25], [46]
Rb2	Inhibition of metastasis and proliferation	Ovarian cancer	ROS	[26]
Rg3	Induction of apoptosis of cancer cells Inhibition of viability and invasiveness Inhibition of angiogenesis	Gastric cancer Lung cancer	COX-2, NF-κB, BCL-2, BAX, c-Fos, c-Jun, VEGF, Caspases	[30], [34], [78]
Rh2	Inhibition of tumor migration, ROS generation, and cancer cell growth Changes in miRNA expression level Inhibition of chemoresistance	Pancreatic cancer Liver cancer Lung cancer Brest cancer	MAPK, NF-κB, AP-1, CDKs	[33], [57], [76]
Compound K	Induction of apoptosis of cancer cells	Lung cancer Colon cancer	ROS, c-Jun, JNK, CaMKK-AMPK	[45], [47], [53]
Rd	Inhibition of metastasis Decrease in the expression of miRNA-18a	Liver cancer Mammary cancer	Smad2, iNOS, COX-2, NF-κB	[75]
Rg1	Inhibition of invasion and migration	Breast cancer	MMP-9, NF-κB	[32]
Rk1	Inhibition of telomerase activity and cell proliferation Induction of apoptosis of cancer cells Induction of G1/S phase arrest and autophagy	Liver cancer	Caspases, Cyclin	[27]
Rg5	Inhibition of cell cycle	Cervical cancer Gastric cancer Colon cancer Lung cancer Liver cancer	Cyclin, CDKs	[27]
Sun ginseng (Rk1, Rg3, Rg5)	Induction of apoptosis of cancer cells	Cervical cancer Colon cancer	Caspases, BAX, BAK	[11], [12]
Gintonin	Inhibition of metastasis and proliferation	Melanoma		[81]

AMPK, AMP-activated protein kinase; AP-1, activator protein-1; BCL-2, B-cell lymphoma 2; CaMKK, calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase; Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase 2 CDK, cyclin-dependent kinase; COX-2, cyclooxygenase-2; iNOS, inducible NO synthase; JNK, C-Jun N-terminal kinase; MAPK, mitogen-activated protein kinase; MMP-9, matrix metalloproteinase-9; NF-κB, nuclear factor-κB; ROS, reactive oxygen species; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor