Cepharanthine hydrochloride: a novel ferroptosis-inducing agent for prostate cancer treatment.

Background: Ferroptosis is an intracellular iron-dependent cell death that is distinct from apoptosis, necrosis, and autophagy. Increasing evidence indicated that ferroptosis plays a crucial role in suppressing tumors, thus providing new opportunities for cancer therapy. The drug cepharanthine, commonly used to treat leukopenia, has been discovered to function as an anticancer agent to multiple types of cancer via diverse mechanisms.

Cepharanthine hydrochloride inhibits the Wnt/β‑catenin/Hedgehog signaling axis in liver cancer.

Cepharanthine, a biscoclaurine alkaloid isolated from the roots of Hayata, has been reported to demonstrate antitumor activity across multiple cancer types; however, the mechanisms are still under investigation. High transcriptional responses by both the Hedgehog and Wnt pathways are frequently associated with specific human cancers, including liver cancer. To investigate whether these signaling pathways are involved in the pharmaceutical action of cepharanthine, we investigated Hedgehog and Wnt signaling in models of liver cancer treated with a semi‑synthetic cepharanthine derivative, cepharanthine hydrochloride (CH), and .

Cepharanthine hydrochloride induces mitophagy targeting GPR30 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

: Cepharanthine exhibits a wide range of therapeutic effects against numerous cancers by virtue of its pleiotropic mechanisms. However, cepharanthine monotherapy has insufficient drug efficacy for cancers in animal models and clinical trials. The mechanism of its limited efficacy is unknown.