Sulfuretin: Unraveling its potent therapeutic potential in a holistic literature review

Sulfuretin is widely distributed in different families of nature, such as Anacardiaceae, Compositae and Leguminosae. Since it was isolated, modern pharmacological researches revealed that this compound exhibited various bioactivities, namely neuroprotection, antioxidant, anti-cancer, hepatoprotection, anti-microbial, anti-inflammation, anti-diabetes, etc., which were attributed to many important molecular targets, such as NF-κB, PI3K/AKT/mTOR, Nrf2/HO1, MAPKs and JNK/ERK. However, there was no comprehensive and critical review of this compound searched on the Internet since it was discovered, which have been recognized for more than seventy years. Hence, this review comprehensively summarizes the pharmacological effects of sulfuretin (from 1953 to 2024) by searching Scifinder, Web of Science, CNKI, PubMed and the Plant List (www.theplantlist.org) as well as other published databases and books. By this review, we hope that further study of sulfuretin will focus on the mechanism exploration and to evaluate its toxicity, then to perform related clinical assessment.