Skip to main content

MINI REVIEW article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1404172

The possible anti-tumor actions and mechanisms of active metabolites from Cortex Fraxini

Provisionally accepted
Bin Cai Bin Cai 1Ting Cai Ting Cai 2*Zeyu Feng Zeyu Feng 1Huanhuan Zhu Huanhuan Zhu 1*
  • 1 Wuxi Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Wuxi, Liaoning Province, China
  • 2 Wuxi People’s Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Cortex Fraxini is a traditional Chinese herb that is widely available, inexpensive, and has low toxicity. Modern pharmacological studies have demonstrated that the active metabolites in Cortex Fraxini, including esculin, esculetin, and fraxetin, exert antitumor activities by regulating genes and proteins involved in cancer cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, and migration. Additionally, these metabolites play a pivotal role in the regulation of several tumor-associated signaling pathways, including the PI3K/Akt, MAPK/ERK, JAK/STAT3, and Wnt/β-catenin pathways. Due to their proapoptotic and anti-proliferative properties in vitro and in vivo, Cortex Fraxini and its active metabolites may be considered as potential candidates for the treatment of tumor.The aim of this review is to highlight the anti-tumor biological activities and underlying mechanisms of action of the active metabolites of Cortex Fraxini, with a view to providing a reference for their further development and application in the treatment of tumors.

    Keywords: Cortex Fraxini, anti-tumor, Esculin, esculetin, Fraxetin

    Received: 20 Mar 2024; Accepted: 02 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Cai, Cai, Feng and Zhu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Ting Cai, Wuxi People’s Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, 211166, Jiangsu Province, China
    Huanhuan Zhu, Wuxi Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Wuxi, Liaoning Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.