Anticancer potential of Ferula assa-foetida and its constituents, a powerful plant for cancer therapy

Table 1 An overview of anticancer effect of different parts of Ferula assa-foetida

	Type/name	Cell line	Effects	Ref.
Nano particle	Silver nanoparticles and asafoetida ethanol extracts	L6 cancer cell line	IC50 was calculated 1 μg/mL	Subramaniam et al[25], 2021
	Nano emulsion containing Ferula assa-foetida seed essential oil	MCF7 and A2058 cell line	Increased BAX and decreased BCL2 expression. IC50 = 64 μg/mL for MCF7 and 201 μg/mL for A2058. Also, decreased VEGF at 32 μg/mL and VEGFR at 128 μg/mL	Azani et al[26], 2021
	Lipid nanoparticles containing Ferula assa foetida seed oil	NT-2 human cancer stem cells	IC50 = 115.4 μg/mL and the number of blood vessels reduced at 250, 500, and 1000 μg/mL	Sadat Khadem et al[27], 2021
	Silver anoparticles (AgNPs) with aqueous extract of asafoetida	MCF-7	IC50 was calculated 2 μg/mL	Devanesan et al[28], 2020
	Zinc nanoparticles containing Ferula assa-foetida extract	MCF7, MDA-MB231 and HT-29	IC50 was 23, 41.26 and 143 μg/mL after 72 h	Boskabadi et al[29], 2020
	Ferula assa foetida essential oil on PLGA nanoparticles	HepG2 and A2780	Inhibited HepG2 and A2780 with an IC50 of 57 μg/mL and 106.7 respectively. Reduction of vascular parametric factors at 125 μg/mL	Mokhtareeizadeh et al[30], 2021
Essential oil	(-)-E-2-butylpropenyl disulfide, (-)-Z-2-butylpropenyl disulfide, (-)-1-(methylthio) propyl (E)-1 -Propenyl disulfide, and (-)-1-(methylthio) propyl (Z)-1-propenyl disulfide	SKOV3 (ovary) and A549 (lung) cancer cell lines	Trisulfide showed better activity against A549 and SKOV3 cell lines compared to disulfides	Yatham et al[31], 2021
	Seed of Ferula assa foetida essential oil	AGS gastric cancer cells	Inhibitory effect on AGS gastric cancer cells was near 100% at 10 μl/mL after 72 h incubation	Bagheri et al[32], 2020
	Asafoetida essential oil	HepG2 and SK-Hep1	IC50 for HepG2 and SK-Hep1 was 7.21 μg/mL and 8.0 μg/mL respectively	Verma et al[33], 2019
	Essential oils asafoetida and	T98G and HCT116	IC50 value for HCT116 was 5.96 µg/mL and for T98G was 4.49 µg/mL	Pavela et al[34], 2020
	Essential oil of asafoetida	MCF7 cells	Decreased the viability of MCF7 cells in a time and concentration-dependent manner	Bagheri et al[35], 2020
Isolated components	Ferulic acid	MDA-MB-231	Combination with 25 μM of thymoquinone and 250 μM of ferulic acid, decrease proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells	Al-Mutairi et al[38], 2021
	Ferulic acid	MDA-MB-231	Increased caspase 3 and reduced the proliferation of cancer cells about 40% at 100 μM. 100 mg/kg significantly reduced tumor volume, weight and growth in mice	Zhang et al[39], 2016
	Ferulic acid	4T1 cells	Reduced the growth of cancer cells at 500 μg/mL	Bagheri et al[40], 2017
	Galbanic acid	MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells	IC50 was 48.7 and 56.6 μg/mL, respectively. Up-regulation of Bax and caspase-3 and down-regulation of bcl2	Sajjadi et al[42], 2019
	Galbanic acid	H460, A549, PC-9 and HCC827	IC50 calculated 100 μM on H460 cell line. Bax and caspase 9 increased and Bcl-2, Bcl-xL and myeloid cell leukemia 1 (Mcl-1) decreased in H460 cells	Oh et al[43], 2015
	Galbanic acid	AR+ PCa cells and AR- PCa cells	Suppresses the growth of AR (+) PCa cells. Inhibited cyclin/CDK4/6 pathway, specially cyclin D1	Zhang et al[44], 2012
	Farnesiferol C	HUVEC and mouse Lewis lung cancer cells	10-40 μmol/L inhibited VEGF. Reduced the growth of mouse Lewis lung cancer by 60%	Lee et al[45], 2010
	Sesquiterpene coumarins	PC-3 and MCF-7	Gummosin showed highest cytotoxic activity. Also showed an IC50 values at 30 and 32.1 μg/mL against PC-3 and MCF-7 cell lines respectively	Iranshahy et al[48], 2019
	Farnesiferol C	MCF-7	Decrease cell viability after 24, 48 and 72 h. (IC50 43, 20 and 14 µM, respectively), and stopped the cell cycle in G0/G1 phase and induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cells	Hasanzadeh et al[46], 2017

AGS: Aerobic granular sludge; BCL2: B-cell lymphoma 2; EMT: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition; VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor; VEGFR: Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor.