MANGIFERIN; A NATURAL GLUCOSYLXANTHONE WITH MULTIPLES PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTIONS ALSO EFFECTIVE IN CANCER CHEMOPREVENTION

Abstract

Introduction: Cancer is a multigenic disease associated to chronic inflammation, which in turn is associated to oxidative stress and neuropathic pain. The main problems of the anti-cancer chemotherapy are their lack of specificity and their serious adverse effects. The identification of biologically active compound from natural products has been a long-term focus in the pharmaceutical industry. The natural compounds capable of increasing the defenses of the human organism should at least, diminish the adverse effects of classical anticancer drugs. Mangiferin is an antioxidant glucosylxanthone, which has been known for its immunomodulatory, antitumoral and anti-inflammatory actions. Material and Methods: In this way, we apply bioinformatics methods to identify multiple targets of the gene expression profiles analysis following in vivo treatment. By using transcriptome based pathway analysis, it was possible to identify activated or repressed pathways and to predict possible molecular targets in CT-26.WT murine colon carcinoma syngeneic tumor models. Results and Discussion: The antitumor and antimetastatic effects were positively correlated with increasing doses of mangiferin, showing the greatest effect at 100 mg/kg. Pathway enrichment analysis revealed that mangiferin targeted specific cancer processes related to cell death and survival, cellular growth and proliferation, inflammatory and oxidative response. In this work some results of studies guided to increase the bio-availability of the mangiferin with the objective to obtain more effective, bioavailable and safe pharmaceutical forms are also shown. Conclusions: Mangiferin holds promise as an effective antitumor agent by triggering antimetastatic and antiangiogenic effects.

Acknowledged: This research was possible with the special financial contribution of two VLIR UOS projects Nr. ZEIN2011PR383 (concluded) and ZEIN2016PR418 (current process) from Flemish Belgium VLIR collaboration program and the Project of Institute of Food and Pharmacy, Havana University.