Novel Phytochemical Constituents and Anticancer Activities of the genus, Typhonium.

BACKGROUND: Typhonium is the largest genus in Araceae family (~70 species), distributed in South Asia, Southeast Asia and Australia. Typhonium is well-known for its ethnopharmacological uses, and Southeast Asians considered as an alternative medicine to treat cancer. This review elucidated the confirmed chemical structures of the isolated compounds of Typhonium, and emphasized their anticancer activities against various human cancer cells. METHODS: Among several species, Typhonium blumei, T. flagelliforme, T. divaricatum and T. giganteum were extensively studied due to the presence of a class of secondary metabolites. All available reports on Typhonium were included and discussed in this article. RESULTS: Until now several groups of compounds, named amino acids (1,2), cinnamic acid (3), fatty acids (4-14), glycerol derivatives (15-18) and cerebrosides (19-34), flavonoids (35), hydantoins (36-38), lignin monomers (39-44), nucleobases (45-48), pheophorbides (49-52), phthalate (53), terpene and steroids (54-59) and vitamins (60,61) were isolated and characterized from Typhonium. These phytochemicals were investigated for their anticancer properties, and results confirmed the promising growth inhibitory effect and anticancer activities against human lung, breast, prostate and colon cancer cells. The anticancer activity of these compounds appears to be mediated through induction of apoptotic-cell death. The phytochemicals further reported to exhibit other pharmacological efficacies, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiviral, anti-allergic, neuroprotective and hepato-protective properties. CONCLUSION: This is the first review to summarize the anticancer properties of all isolated compounds of Typhonium genus with confirmed chemical structures. Further advanced studies are necessary to establish the detailed signaling pathways that are involved in anticancer property of the compounds.