REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Pharmacology of Anti-Cancer Drugs
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1588857
This article is part of the Research TopicEnhancing Cancer Therapy: Integrating Plant-Derived Bioactives with Chemotherapy through Traditional Knowledge and Modern AdvancesView all 7 articles
Plant polysaccharides influence tumor development based on epigenetics: A review
Provisionally accepted
- 1College of Bioscience & Biotechnology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China
- 2College of Food Science and Technology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Plant polysaccharides have emerged as pivotal epigenetic modulators in oncology, offering multi-target therapeutic potential to address toxicity and drug resistance limitations of conventional therapies. This review integrates evidences from multi-database (PubMed, Web of Science and CNKI, 2010-2025) to elucidate three core epigenetic mechanisms of plant polysaccharides (e.g., Astragalus and Ganoderma lucidum): 1) TET2-mediated DNA demethylation; 2) inhibition of histone-modifying enzymes including JMJD2D; 3) regulation of tumor-suppressive miRNAs such as miR-139-5p. Preclinical studies demonstrate synergistic effects with chemotherapeutics, enhancing antitumor efficacy while reducing toxicity through immune modulation (e.g., H22 murine models) and organ protection (e.g., cisplatin regimens). Bibliometric analyses further uncover emerging roles in tumor microenvironment reprogramming, angiogenesis suppression, and macrophage polarization. These findings establish plant polysaccharides as precision oncology agents bridging molecular mechanisms with clinical translation. Future research should prioritize structural standardization, pharmacokinetic profiling, and combinatorial therapy optimization to accelerate clinical translation.
Keywords: plant polysaccharides, epigenetic, tumor development, oncology agent, Apoptosis
Received: 06 Mar 2025; Accepted: 23 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, ao and Yang. 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: Hua Yang, College of Bioscience & Biotechnology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, 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.