Advances in Anticancer Potential of Evodiamine: Insights into Structural Alteration and Nanotechnological Delivery

Evodiamine, a quinazoline alkaloid derived from the Evodia rutaecarpa plant, has gained significant attention owing to its promising anticancer properties. However, its clinical applications are hampered by inherent challenges, including low water solubility, poor bioavailability and potential toxicity. This study reviews the current status and the medicinal chemistry efforts to accelerate the pace of evodiamine clinical applications in cancer therapy.

A comprehensive literature search in four electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar and ScienceDirect) for this study, only English language publications have been evaluated based on their titles, abstracts and full text using keywords like evodiamine, anticancer, evodiamine derivatives, nanoformulation.

Structural modification and nano-delivery strategies significantly improve the pharmacokinetic profile of evodiamine, reduce toxicity, and enhance its therapeutic efficacy. These strategies provide better bioavailability, increased target specificity and improved anticancer potential.

Integrating structural modification with nanotechnology presents a promising approach to address the challenges associated with evodiamine. This combination can potentially maximize its therapeutic efficacy in cancer treatment, paving the way for its clinical translation.