Synthesis and Evaluation of Polyphenolic Malabaricones for their Anti-cancer Potential

Cancer is one of the leading causes of deaths all over the world. The search for the novel drugs is essential for chemotherapy, due to inherent or acquired resistance in cancer cells against conventional chemotherapy. Dysregulation in apoptotic pathways, improved DNA repair, drug transport and detoxification are considered to be the major causes of drug resistance. There is a burgeoning interest in small natural organic molecules, capable of switching their redox status, as these can often cleave DNA and/or target mitochondria, and hence can be used as anti-cancer agents. To this end, this review describes the discovery of an important polyphenolic viz. malabaricone C (Mal C), which was isolated from fruit rind of rampatri spice, possessing impressive anti-cancer properties in vitro and in vivo tumor models. Mal C shows higher therapeutic efficacy than curcumin and resveratrol against multiple cancer cells. This review also highlights synthesis and mechanistic evaluation of mal C and its analogue for their anticancer potential.