Coumarins as Potential Anti-drug Resistant Cancer Agents: A Mini Review

Cancer is the main cause of death, and the emergence of resistance by cancer cells towards existing anticancer agents is one of the major problems for effective chemotherapy, creating a great demand for the development of novel anticancer drugs. Coumarins, abundantly found in nature, constitute an important class of pharmacological agents possessing physiological activities. The mechanism investigations elucidated that coumarins could lead to self-programmed cancer cell death (apoptosis) via different mechanisms; thereby coumarin-based derivatives possess potential activity against various forms of cancers, including drug-resistant, even multidrug-resistant cancers. This review article describes the recent progress in the discovery, structural modification, structure-activity relationship, and mechanism of action studies of coumarin-based derivatives with potential activity against drug-resistant cancers, covering articles published between 2010 and 2020.