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Phytochemicals and callus suspension culture as cancer therapeutics
Mathewos Geneto Abiche1,2, Vinay Kumar3, Wusirika Ramakrishna1
1Department of Biochemistry, School of Basic Sciences, Central University of Punjab, VPO-Ghudda, Bathinda, India.
Abstract:
Cancer remains a formidable health crisis in the world, driving an urgent need for effective, less toxic, and affordable therapeutic alternatives to conventional treatments. Herbal medicines and phyto-derived natural products represent a promising avenue. The bioactive compounds have varied modes of action, inducing apoptosis, inhibiting angiogenesis, and targeting important signaling pathways such as PI3K-AKT-mTOR and p53, with low toxicity to normal cells. Callus suspension culture is emerging as an innovative and superior alternative for producing these therapeutic compounds, providing a consistent, scalable, pathogen-free, and new metabolites that are not produced in the native plant. This review summarizes the anticancer properties and mechanisms of action of the bioactive compounds from the selected medicinal plants and discusses the concept of callus suspension culture-derived metabolites as highly efficacious anticancer agents. In vitro studies found that compounds from callus are more effective than those from whole-plant extracts and chemotherapeutics. They induce apoptosis by upregulating p53, altering the Bcl-2/Bax ratio, activating caspases, and arresting cancer cells in G2/M. Even though the suspension culture of callus is a promising technology, there are challenges such as bioavailability, lack of preclinical/clinical data, quality control issues for large-scale production and regulatory challenges.
Insights
Medicinal plant compounds from callus cultures show potent anticancer effects by inducing apoptosis and targeting key cancer pathways. These plant-derived compounds offer a promising, less toxic alternative to conventional cancer treatments.
Area of Science:
- Pharmacology
- Plant Biotechnology
- Oncology
Background:
- Cancer necessitates novel, less toxic, and affordable therapies.
- Herbal medicines and natural products offer promising anticancer agents.
- Bioactive compounds exhibit diverse mechanisms, including apoptosis induction and pathway inhibition.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the anticancer properties and mechanisms of bioactive compounds from medicinal plants.
- To discuss the potential of callus suspension culture-derived metabolites as anticancer agents.
- To highlight the advantages of callus cultures over traditional plant extraction.
Main Methods:
- Review of in vitro studies on anticancer properties of plant-derived compounds.
- Analysis of mechanisms of action, including apoptosis induction and cell cycle arrest.
- Evaluation of callus suspension culture technology for metabolite production.
Main Results:
- Callus-derived compounds demonstrated superior efficacy compared to whole-plant extracts and chemotherapeutics in vitro.
- Mechanisms include p53 upregulation, altered Bcl-2/Bax ratio, caspase activation, and G2/M cell cycle arrest.
- Callus cultures provide consistent, scalable, pathogen-free production of novel metabolites.
Conclusions:
- Callus suspension cultures are a promising technology for producing potent anticancer agents.
- These plant-derived compounds offer a less toxic alternative to conventional treatments.
- Challenges include bioavailability, limited clinical data, quality control, and regulatory hurdles.
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