Emerging role of plumbagin: Cytotoxic potential and pharmaceutical relevance towards cancer therapy

Plumbagin is a naphthoquinone derived yellow crystalline phytochemical. Plumbagin has a wide range of biological effects including cytotoxicity against cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. Due to the pleiotropic nature of plumbagin, it shows the anticancer effect by targeting several molecular mechanisms including apoptosis and autophagic pathways, cell cycle arrest, anti-angiogenic pathways, anti-invasion and anti-metastasis pathways. Among many signaling pathways the key regulatory genes regulated by plumbagin are NF-k beta, STAT3, and AKT, etc. Plumbagin is also a potent inducer of ROS, suppressor of cellular glutathione, and causes DNA strand break by oxidative DNA base damages. In vivo studies suggested that plumbagin significantly reduces the tumor weight and volume in dose-dependent manner without any side effects in tested model organisms. Another exciting aspect of plumbagin is the ability to re-sensitize the chemo and radioresistant cancer cells when used in combination or alone. Nano encapsulation of plumbagin overcomes the poor water solubility and bioavailability obstacles, enhancing the pharmaceutical relevance with better therapeutic efficacy. Moreover, plumbagin can be introduced as a future phytotherapeutic anticancer drug after fully satisfied preclinical and clinical trials.