Nimbolide, a Neem Limonoid, Is a Promising Candidate for the Anticancer Drug Arsenal

• Published in: Journal of medicinal chemistry 2021-04, Vol.64 (7), p.3560-3577
• Main Authors: Nagini, Siddavaram, Nivetha, Ramesh, Palrasu, Manikandan, Mishra, Rajakishore
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0022-2623; 1520-4804
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.0c02239

Nimbolide, a major limonoid constituent of Azadirachta indica, commonly known as neem, has attracted increasing research attention owing to its wide spectrum of pharmacological properties, predominantly anticancer activity. Nimbolide is reported to exert potent antiproliferative effects on a myriad cancer cell lines and chemotherapeutic efficacy in preclinical animal tumor models. The potentiality of nimbolide to circumvent multidrug resistance and aid in targeted protein degradation broaden its utility in enhancing therapeutic modalities and outcome. Accumulating evidence indicates that nimbolide prevents the acquisition of cancer hallmarks such as sustained proliferation, apoptosis evasion, invasion, angiogenesis, metastasis, and inflammation by modulating kinase-driven oncogenic signaling networks. Nimbolide has been demonstrated to abrogate aberrant activation of cellular signaling by influencing the subcellular localization of transcription factors and phosphorylation of kinases in addition to influencing the epigenome. Nimbolide, with its ever-expanding repertoire of molecular targets, is a valuable addition to the anticancer drug arsenal.