Honokiol: An anticancer lignan

Honokiol lowers the expression of pluripotency-factors, the formation of mammosphere, P-glycoprotein expression, receptor CXCR4 level, c-FLIP, steroid receptor coactivator-3 (SRC-3), Twist1, matrix metalloproteinases, class I histone deacetylases, H3K27 methyltransferase among numerous other anticancer functions. It increases bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP7), Bax protein, among others. It does so by interfering with the major checkpoints such as nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), mammalian target of rapamycin (m-TOR), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), Sonic hedgehog (SHH). It promotes the efficacy of several anticancer drugs and radiation tolerance. The derivatization of honokiol results in compounds with interesting attributes in terms of cancer control. This review will shed light on the scopes and hurdles in the relevance of the bioactive lignan honokiol in cancer management.