Planta Med 2010; 76(11): 1087-1093
DOI: 10.1055/s-0030-1250169
Cancer Therapy
Reviews
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Natural Compounds with Aromatase Inhibitory Activity: An Update

Marcy J. Balunas1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , A. Douglas Kinghorn5
  • 1Division of Medicinal Chemistry, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, Storrs, CT, USA
  • 2Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
  • 3Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología, Clayton, Panamá
  • 4Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Ancón, Panamá
  • 5Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
Further Information

Publication History

received February 3, 2010 revised May 28, 2010

accepted July 2, 2010

Publication Date:
15 July 2010 (online)

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Abstract

Several synthetic aromatase inhibitors are currently in clinical use for the treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone-receptor positive breast cancer. However, these treatments may lead to untoward side effects and so the search for new aromatase inhibitors continues, especially those for which the activity is promoter-specific, targeting the breast-specific promoters I.3 and II. Recently, numerous natural compounds have been found to inhibit aromatase in noncellular, cellular, and in vivo studies. These investigations, covering the last two years, as well as additional studies that have focused on the evaluation of natural compounds as promoter-specific aromatase inhibitors or as aromatase inducers, are described in this review.