molecules Review Deoxyelephantopin and Isodeoxyelephantopin as Potential Anticancer Agents with Effects on Multiple Signaling Pathways Tahir Mehmood 1, Amara Maryam 1, Hamed A. Ghramh 2,3, Muhammad Khan 1,* and Tonghui Ma 1,* 1 College of Basic Medical Sciences, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116044, China;
[email protected] (T.M.);
[email protected] (A.M.) 2 Research Center for Advanced Materials Science, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, P.O. Box 9004, Saudi Arabia;
[email protected] 3 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, P.O. Box 9004, Saudi Arabia * Correspondence:
[email protected] (M.K.);
[email protected] (T.M.); Tel.: +86-411-8611-8842 (M.K.); +86-411-8611-0278 (T.M.); Fax: +86-411-8611-0378 (T.M.) Received: 17 May 2017; Accepted: 15 June 2017; Published: 21 June 2017 Abstract: Cancer is the 2nd leading cause of death worldwide. The development of drugs to target only one specific signaling pathway has limited therapeutic success. Developing chemotherapeutics to target multiple signaling pathways has emerged as a new prototype for cancer treatment. Deoxyelephantopin (DET) and isodeoxyelephantopin (IDET) are sesquiterpene lactone components of “Elephantopus scaber and Elephantopus carolinianus”, traditional Chinese medicinal herbs that have long been used as folk medicines to treat liver diseases, diabetes, diuresis, bronchitis, fever, diarrhea, dysentery, cancer, and inflammation. Recently, the anticancer activity of DET and IDET has been widely investigated. Here, our aim is to review the current status of DET and IDET, and discuss their anticancer activity with specific emphasis on molecular targets and mechanisms used by these compounds to trigger apoptosis pathways which may help to further design and conduct research to develop them as lead therapeutic drugs for cancer treatments.