Brusatol: A potential sensitizing agent for cancer therapy from Brucea javanica

Cancer is currently the most important problem endangering human health. As antitumor drugs have always been the most common methods for treating cancers, searching for new antitumor agents is of great significance. Brusatol, a quassinoid from the seeds of Brucea javanica, exhibits a potent tumor-suppressing effect with improved disease outcome. Studies have shown that brusatol not only shows potential tumor inhibition through multiple pharmacological effects, such as promoting apoptosis and inhibiting metastasis but also exhibits significant synergistic antitumor effects in combination with chemotherapeutic agents and overcoming chemical resistance in a wide range of cancer types. In this paper, the antitumor effects and mechanisms of brusatol were reviewed to provide evidence that brusatol has the exact antitumor efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents and show the potential of brusatol to be developed as a promising antitumor drug.