Table 1.
Current evidence on anticancer effects of isoquinoline alkaloids.
| Mechanisms | Cancer Type | Effect | Compounds | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apoptosis | Colorectal cancer | Accumulation of cells in sub G0 phase Increase in Bax expression |
Berberine | [73] |
| Breast cancer | Condensed chromatin with fragmented nuclei Accumulation of cells in sub G0 phase |
Noscapine | [83] | |
| Gastric cancer | Decrease of mitochondrial membrane potential Increased release of cytochrome c Activation of caspase-3/8/9 and PARP Decrease in Bcl-2 expression Increase in Bax expression Apoptotic DNA fragmentation |
Chelerythrine | [59] | |
| Breast cancer Liver cancer Lung cancer Prostate cancer |
Berberine | [66,67,68,84,85,86] | ||
| Leukemia | Berberine Scoulerine |
[87,88] | ||
| Colorectal cancer | Noscapine Sanguinarine |
[41,63] | ||
| Breast cancer | Decrease of mitochondrial membrane potential Increased phosphorylation of JNK Increased release of cytochrome c and AIF Activation of caspase-3 Decrease in Bcl-2 expression Increase in Bax expression |
Berberine | [89] | |
| Colorectal cancer | Liensinine | [90] | ||
| Lung cancer | Increased phosphorylation of p38 MAPK Increase in transcriptional activity of FoxO3a |
Berberine | [72] | |
| Liver cancer | Suppressed PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway Increased phosphorylation of JNK Reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation Increase in Bim expression and transcriptional activity of FoxO |
Berberine | [91] | |
| Prostate cancer | Decrease of mitochondrial membrane potential Decrease in Bcl-2, Bcl-XL, and XIAP expression Increase in Bax, Bad, and Apaf-1 expression Increased cytochrome c and AIF release Activation of caspase-3 and PARP Suppression of PI3K/Akt pathway |
Sinomenine | [92] | |
| Liver cancer | Tetrandrine | [93] | ||
| Lung cancer | Reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation Activation of caspase-3/8/9 and PARP Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress activation Increased phosphorylation of JNK Suppression of PI3K/Akt pathway |
Chelerythrine | [64] | |
| Liver cancer Colorectal cancer |
Coptisine | [94,95] | ||
| Colorectal cancer | Scoulerine | [96] | ||
| Renal cancer | Decreased phosphorylation of ERK and Akt Decrease in Bcl-2 expression Increase in Bax and p53 expression |
Chelerythrine | [97] | |
| Oral cancer | Increase in FasL expression Decrease in Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL expression Increase in Bax, Bad, and Apaf-1 expression Activation of caspase-3/8/9 and PARP Increased phosphorylation of p38 MAPK |
Berberine | [98] | |
| Cell cycle arrest | Breast cancer Colorectal cancer Gastric cancer Pancreatic cancer Prostate cancer |
G1 phase cell cycle arrest | Berberine Sanguinarine Chelerythrine |
[57,60,61,86,99] |
| Colorectal cancer Glioblastoma Lung cancer |
G1 phase cell cycle arrest induction of p21 inhibition of cyclin D1 |
Tetrandrine Berberine |
[59,76,100,101] | |
| Gastric cancer Ovarian cancer |
S phase cell cycle arrest | Chelerythrine Liriodenine |
[59] | |
| Glioblastoma | G2/M phase cell arrest Enhanced cyclin dependent kinase 1 (Cdk1)/cyclin B1 complex activity |
Chelidonine | [102] | |
| Colorectal cancer | Liensinine Noscapine Berberine |
[41,58,92] | ||
| Leukemia | Scoulerine | [88] | ||
| Breast cancer | Noscapine | [83] | ||
| Prostate cancer | Protopine | [103] | ||
| Autophagy | Breast cancer Gastric cancer Glioblastoma cancer Liver cancer Lungcancer |
Enhanced expression of LC3-II Increase of AMPK activity Downregulated expression of PI3K, Akt, and mTOR Activation of Beclin-1 |
Berberine Neferine Sanguinarine Chelerythrine |
[64,80,81,82,86,99,100] |