Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 3, 2025

Author Spotlight: Exploring Salidroside's Molecular Mechanisms in Breast Cancer Treatment
Published on: June 9, 2023
Molecular Mechanisms of Thymoquinone as Anticancer Agent
Fatma Alhmied1, Ali Alammar2, Bayan Alsultan2
1College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O BOX 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia.
Abstract:
Thymoquinone (TQ), the bioactive constituent of Nigella Sativa seeds, is a well-known natural compound for the management of several types of cancers. The anti-cancer properties of thymoquinone are thought to be operated via intervening with various oncogenic pathways, prevention of inflammation and oxidative stress, inhibition of angiogenesis and metastasis, and induction of apoptosis, as well as up-regulation and down-regulation of specific tumor suppressor genes and tumor promoting genes, respectively. The proliferation of various tumor cells is inhibited by TQ via induction of cell cycle arrest, disruption of the microtubule organization, and downregulating cell survival protein expression. TQ induces G1 phase cell cycle arrest in human breast cancer, colon cancer and osteosarcoma cells through inhibiting the activation of cyclin E or cyclin D and up-regulating p27 and p21, a cyclin dependent kinase (Cdk) inhibitor. TQ concentration is a significant factor in targeting a particular cell cycle phase. While high concentration of TQ induces G2 phase arrest in human breast cancer (MCF-7) cells, low concentration causes S phase arrest. This review article provides mechanistic insights into the anticancer properties of thymoquinone.
More Related Videos
19:44Enhancement of Apoptotic and Autophagic Induction by a Novel Synthetic C-1 Analogue of 7-deoxypancratistatin in Human Breast Adenocarcinoma and Neuroblastoma Cells with Tamoxifen
Published on: May 30, 2012
09:33Formation of Covalent DNA Adducts by Enzymatically Activated Carcinogens and Drugs In Vitro and Their Determination by 32P-postlabeling
Published on: March 20, 2018
Related Concept Videos
Cancer Therapies
However, cancer treatments can pose several challenges, as therapies used to kill cancer cells are generally also toxic to normal cells. Moreover, cancer cells mutate rapidly and can develop resistance to chemical agents or radiation therapy. Besides, all types of cancer cells may not respond to the same therapy. Some cancer cells respond to one...
Oxidation of Phenols to Quinones
o-hydroxy phenols are oxidized to o-quinones and p-hydroxy phenols to p-quinones. Such redox reactions involve the transfer of two electrons and two protons. The reversible redox...
Electron Transport Chain: Complex I and II
ROS generation is regulated and maintained at moderate levels necessary...
Inhibition of Cdk Activity
Targeted Cancer Therapies
There are several types of targeted therapies against...
Mechanisms of Retrovirus-induced Cancers