Thymoquinone and Difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) Synergistically Induce Apoptosis of Human Acute T Lymphoblastic Leukemia Jurkat Cells Through the Modulation of Epigenetic Pathways.

Thymoquinone (TQ), a natural anticancer agent exerts cytotoxic effects on several tumors by targeting multiple pathways, including apoptosis. Difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), an irreversible inhibitor of the ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) enzyme, has shown promising inhibitory activities in many cancers including leukemia by decreasing the biosynthesis of the intracellular polyamines. The present study aimed to investigate the combinatorial cytotoxic effects of TQ and DFMO on human acute T lymphoblastic leukemia Jurkat cells and to determine the underlying mechanisms.

Strigolactones-a novel class of phytohormones as anti-cancer agents.

Chemotherapy shows some promising results in the inhibition of cancer, but resistance to chemotherapy and its severe side effects may occur in due course, resulting in only restricted and narrow benefits. Therefore, there is a pressing need to find alternative chemotherapeutic drugs for combating cancers. Plants have been used since ages in medicine, and by the dawn of 19th century, various potent and promising anti-cancer products have been derived from plants.