Advances of wogonin, an extract from Scutellaria baicalensis, for the treatment of multiple tumors

Xue Wu,1 Haijun Zhang,2 Jumah Masoud Mohammad Salmani,1 Rong Fu,3 Baoan Chen1 1Department of Hematology, 2Department of Oncology, The Affiliated Zhongda Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, 3Department of Physiology, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China Abstract: As the major bioactive compound of Scutellaria baicalensis that has been approved to be effective as an anti-inflammatory and antiviral inhibitor in cardiovascular diseases, wogonin (WG) showed potent and promising antitumor effects both in vitro and in vivo. It has been proved that WG has the ability to inhibit the growth of tumor cells, induce apoptosis, and suppress angiogenesis. The molecular mechanisms involve reactive oxygen species, Ca2+, NF-κB, tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha. Furthermore, the synergistic effect of WG with 5-fluorouracil, etoposide, and adriamycin to enhance chemotherapy and reverse drug resistance has also been confirmed. In this review, we summarize the advances in recent years on the antitumor effect of WG on multiple tumors; in addition, we also present information regarding the synergistic and chemosensitizing effects of WG with other drugs to illustrate its potential use in the clinic. Keywords: antitumor effect, drug resistance, mechanisms, synergistic effect