Pharmacological Effects of Natural Components Against Ovarian Cancer and Mechanisms

Ovarian cancer, one of the three leading malignancies in women, has high incidence and mortality worldwide. It is hard to diagnose until very late stages and the 5-year survival rate is very low, due mostly to its distant metastasis. Chemotherapy is currently the most common treatment to inhibit cancer growth, but long-term use could result in resistance and tumor recurrence in addition to damages to normal tissues and functions of the patients. In order to achieve safe and curative effects against cancers, many investigators have focused their attention on traditional Chinese herbal medicines. Paclitaxel, a natural antitumor agent, has significant effects on advanced malignancies including ovarian cancer and is in the standard front-line treatment. Additional natural anticancer substances have continually been discovered for their high effectiveness and low side-effects in ovarian cancer prevention and therapy. In this chapter, we summarize recent work on a selected group of natural components, including lignans, ellagic acid, luteolin, mangiferin, and Acanthopanax senticosus, which have all been demonstrated to reduce the progress of epithelial ovarian cancer in a dose-depend manner, by both in vitro and in vivo experiments. The mechanisms of the anticancer activities by these natural components involve expression suppression of MMP2 and MMP9.