A Review on Therapeutic Perspectives of Anticancer Properties of Chebulagic Acid

Abstract

An attempt is made to write a review concerning the anticancer effect of hydrolysable tannin chebulagic acid obtained from Terminalia chebula Retz. Chebulagic acid has multitude of applications in medicine ranging from antidiabetic effect to antitumor effect. In this review, article we have analyzed the molecular mechanism behind the anticancer property of the compound. It has been observed from previous studies that regulation of apoptosis is one of the key factors in terminating cancer and chebulagic acid modulates apoptosis by altering the mitochondrial membrane potential which leads to a sequel of events. The dominant effect is the inhibition of expression of antiapoptotic factors and stimulation of expression of proapoptotic factors which paves the path for cell suicide. This in turn is due to the increase in life span of the factor IκBα which is a stumbling block for the translocation of nuclear factor NFκB to the nucleus of cells. Therapeutic efficacy of chebulagic acid, the potent tannin natural compound to combat cancer with updated review of literature and their mechanisms of action are discussed in detail. Further, more research needs to be done towards the utility of this compound for clinical utility.