Chalcones against the hallmarks of cancer: a mini-review

Chalcones (1,3-diphenylpropen-1-ones) are a class of flavonoids that have been shown a broad spectrum of biological activities with therapeutic potential. Naturally occurring chalcones or synthetic chalcone derivatives have been extensively investigated as anticancer compounds. Cancer is still among the leading causes of death globally, although cancer treatments have improved over the past decades. Most of chemotherapeutic drugs target proliferating tumor cells; however, the cancer cells capabilities are also associated to tumor surround microenvironment. Thereby, the search of new compounds with a broad antitumor activity is still a great challenge. The cytotoxicity mechanisms of chalcones are beyond apoptosis induction in tumor cells, which make them promising compound for cancer therapy. In this mini-review we summarized recent studies that describe the anticancer potential of chalcones related to some of hallmarks of cancer. We shed a light on sustaining proliferative signaling, tumor-promoting inflammation, activating invasion and metastasis, inducing angiogenesis and resisting cell death.