مجید تفریحی

Anticancer plants and plant-derived compounds have emerged as an exciting new field in cancer study. Some of these compounds have cancer inhibiting potential in different clinical staging levels, especially metastasis. A few of them wich stabilize cell-cell adhesions, are controversial topics. This review article introduces some effective herbal compounds that target E-cadherin/β-catenin protein complex. In this article, at first we briefly review the structure and function of E-cadherin and β-catenin proteins, Wnt signaling pathway and its target genes. Then effective compounds of the Teucrium persicum, Teucrium polium, Allium sativum (Garlic), Glycine max (Soy) and Brassica oleracea (Broccoli) plants, which influence stability and cellular localization of E-cadherin/β-catenin complex, were studied. Based on literature review, there are some compounds in these plants, including genistein of Soy, Sulforaphane of Broccoli, organosulfur compounds of garlic and the total extract of Teucrium genus that change the expression of variety of Wnt target genes such as MMPs, E-cadherin, p21, p53, c-myc and cyclin D1. So they may be play with induction of cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and or inhibition of EMT and metastasis. Current findings define a therapeutic window in which these agents could be used as inhibitors of tumor growth and metastasis.