Potential Role of Benzoic Acid and its Synthetic Derivatives to Alleviate Cancer: An Up-to-Date Review

Unregulated cell division is one of the main causes of cancer. These cancerous cells negatively impact nearby healthy cells. Cancer can occur anywhere in the body. Normal cell division occurs when cells grow, reproduce, and divide as the body needs. As a normal cascade of cell growth and division, when the cells get damaged, they undergo death, and normal cells develop. However, sometimes, this process is not followed, and abnormal or damaged cells start to grow and multiply several times more than normal. This particular process may form the basis of cancer. There is a research gap in terms of identifying personalized synthetic anticancer therapy, which may be based on individual patient characteristics with an aim to optimize treatment efficacy and minimize adverse effects. While searching for new bioactive compounds, it has been observed that organic molecules with benzoic acid (BA) moiety possess significant anticancer potential. Several works of literature reported the use of BA from natural or synthetic sources to synthesize bioactive chemicals. It has been observed that several natural products also contain BA moiety, and the presence of this moiety is considered responsible for several important biological activities. Therefore, in order to chemically synthesize a wide variety of potent biologically active compounds, benzoic acid as a basic moiety in the form of a scaffold can be employed. Other synthetic compounds with BA scaffolds include furosemide, tetracaine, and bumetanide. The current article aims to focus on past and present work done on BA derivatives and to emphasize the molecular pathways involved in cancer treatment. The future prospects for research in this area are encouraging as researchers are striving to advance synthetic BA derivatives. This could possibly contribute to more efficient treatments and better results for cancer patients.