Table 1.

Shikonin induces tumor cell apoptosis

Cancer types	Cell types	Molecular mechanism	References
Glioma	U251 and U87MG cells	Downregulation of CD147	[87]
Non-small cell lung cancer	A549 cells	Inhibited the STAT3 and AKT pathways, downregulated the expression of Bcl-2	[88]
Breast cancer	4 T1 and MDA-MB-231 cells	Regulated p38 signaling pathways	[15]
Hpatocellular cancer	huh7 and BEL7402 cells	Induced reactive oxygen species (ROS), downregulation of AKT and RIP1/NF-κB activity	[24]
Gastric cancer	AGS、AZ521 and SCM-1 cells	Upregulated p38 activities,inhibited ERK1/2 and AKT activities	[17]
Glioma	GBM、U87MG、DK-MG cells	Inhibited the epidermal growth factor receptor signaling pathway	[52]
Melanoma	A357 cells	Activated ROS-mediated ER stress and p38 pathways	[74, 89]
Non-small cell lung cancer	A549 and NCI-H1437 cells	Activated FOXO3a/EGR1/SIRT1 signaling	[90]
Gastric carcinoma	AGS cells	Regulated p53 and Nrf2 signaling pathways	[91]
Thyroid carcinoma	TT cells	Through the mitochondrial signaling pathway	[16]
Gastric cancer	NCI-N87 cells	Inhibition of PI3K/AKT signal pathway	[40]
Leukemia	K562 cells	Increased the PTEN level and inactivated the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway	[44]