Natural Product-Based Hybrids as Potential Candidates for the Treatment of Cancer: Focus on Curcumin and Resveratrol
Nicola Micale,
Maria Sofia Molonia,
Andrea Citarella,
Francesco Cimino,
Antonina Saija,
Mariateresa Cristani,
Antonio Speciale
Affiliations
Nicola Micale
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno D’Alcontres 31, I-98166 Messina, Italy
Maria Sofia Molonia
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno D’Alcontres 31, I-98166 Messina, Italy
Andrea Citarella
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno D’Alcontres 31, I-98166 Messina, Italy
Francesco Cimino
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno D’Alcontres 31, I-98166 Messina, Italy
Antonina Saija
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno D’Alcontres 31, I-98166 Messina, Italy
Mariateresa Cristani
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno D’Alcontres 31, I-98166 Messina, Italy
Antonio Speciale
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno D’Alcontres 31, I-98166 Messina, Italy
One of the main current strategies for cancer treatment is represented by combination chemotherapy. More recently, this strategy shifted to the “hybrid strategy”, namely the designing of a new molecular entity containing two or more biologically active molecules and having superior features compared with the individual components. Moreover, the term “hybrid” has further extended to innovative drug delivery systems based on biocompatible nanomaterials and able to deliver one or more drugs to specific tissues or cells. At the same time, there is an increased interest in plant-derived polyphenols used as antitumoral drugs. The present review reports the most recent and intriguing research advances in the development of hybrids based on the polyphenols curcumin and resveratrol, which are known to act as multifunctional agents. We focused on two issues that are particularly interesting for the innovative chemical strategy involved in their development. On one hand, the pharmacophoric groups of these compounds have been used for the synthesis of new hybrid molecules. On the other hand, these polyphenols have been introduced into hybrid nanomaterials based on gold nanoparticles, which have many potential applications for both drug delivery and theranostics in chemotherapy.
