TABLE 3.
Anti-cancer effect of crocetin.
| Pharmacologic action | Subjects | Doses | Mechanism of action | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breast cancer | Breast cancer rats | Reduces the number of tumors | Maysam et al. (2011) | |
| Breast tumor BALB/c mice | Crocetin (100 mg/kg) | Overexpresses EcSOD and increases antioxidant activity | Sah et al. (2020) | |
| MCF-7 cells | Crocetin (200 μmol/L) | Inhibits SOD activity by affecting copper binding sites | Sah et al. (2020) | |
| MCF-7 cells | Crocetin glucosyl ester IC50 from 31.25 to 1,000 μg/ml | Inhibits estrogen receptor α and HDAC2 mediated signaling cascade | Mam et al. (2020) | |
| Esophageal cancer | KYSE-150 cells | Crocetin (0, 12.5, 25, 50, 100, 200 μmol/L) | S-phase cell arrest | Li et al. (2015) |
| KYSE-150 cells | Crocetin (200 μmol/L) | Upregulates the p53/p21 pathway | Li et al. (2017) | |
| Gastric cancer | AGS cells | Crocetin (50–240 μmol/L) | Decreases the Bcl-2/Bax ratio of AGS cells | Bathaie et al. (2013a) |
| Gastric cancer rats | Reverses changes in serum antioxidant activity and LDH in rats | Bathaie et al. (2013b) | ||
| SGC7901 cells | Crocetin (12.5, 25, 50 μmol/L) | Upregulates Bax proteins expression and downregulates Bcl-2 protein expression | Zhang (2020) | |
| Colon cancer | HCT116 cells | Crocetin (30 µM) | Downregulates inflammation-related genes, HMGB1, IL-6, and IL-8 | Zhuang et al. (2018) |
| SW480 cells | Crocetin (0.8 mM/L) | Activates p21 in a P53- independent manner | Li et al. (2012) | |
| P53 damage cancer cells | Exploits P73 (P53 paralog) through the FAS-associated death domain to induce apoptosis of colon cancer | Ray et al. (2016) | ||
| Pancreatic cancer | Cancer stem cells (CSC) | Inhibits the expression of Sonic hedgehog (SHH) | Parthasarathy et al. (2015) | |
| MIA-PaCa-2 cells | Crocetin (50, 100, 200 μmol/L) | Enhances Cdc-2 phosphorylation and inhibits Cyclin B1 | Dhar et al. (2009) | |
| Mice without thymus are injected with MIA-PaCa-2 cells | Crocetin (4 mg/kg/day) | Increases the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio | Dhar et al. (2009) | |
| Cervical cancer | HeLa cells | (240 μmol/L) | Inhibits the proliferation of cancer cells by inducing cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase | (Zhong et al., 2011) |
| Cervical cancer model in mice | Attenuates the serum levels of IL-1β, TNF-α, PMN, and nitrates | Chen et al. (2015) | ||
| HeLa cells | Upregulates COX-2 expression | Chen et al. (2015) | ||
| Lung cancer | Lung cancer animal | Crocetin (20 mg/kg) | Increases the activities of glutathione metabolic enzymes and antioxidant enzymes | Magesh et al. (2006) |
| Lung cancer mice | Crocetin (50 mg/kg) | Inhibits polyamine synthesis and glycoprotein changes | Magesh et al. (2010) | |
| A549 cell | Crocetin disodium salt | Inhibits LDH | Granchi et al. (2017) | |
| Prostate cancer | Two invasive PCa cell lines (PC3 and 22rv1) in male nude mice | Crocetin (30 mg/kg) | Interferes with topoisomerase II to induce DNA damage and apoptosis, inhibits the migration and invasion of PCa cells | Claudio et al. (2014) |
| Ovarian cancer | A2780 cells | Crocetin (25, 50, 100, 200 μmol/L) | Reduces the gene expression and efflux function of MRP2 transporters | Neyshaburinezhad et al. (2019) |
| Leukemia | HL-60 cells | Inhibit cells proliferation and differentiation | Tarantilis et al. (1994) | |
| APL cells, NB4 and HL60 cells | Crocetin (100 μmol/L) | Reduces the expression of prosurvival genes and multidrug resistance proteins and inhibits tyrosyl DNA phosphodiesterase 1 | Maliheh et al. (2019) | |
| Skin cancer | Female CD-I mice | Crocetin (0.2 or 1.0 μmol/L) | Inhibits the production of myeloperoxidase and hydrogen peroxide | Wang et al. (1995) |
| B16F10 murine melanoma cells | Reduces protein levels of tyrosinase and microphthalmia-associated transcription factor | Hashemi et al. (2018) |