Cardiac glycosides are used in the treatment of
congestive heart failure and
arrhythmia. Current trend shows use of some
cardiac glycosides in the treatment of proliferative diseases, which includes
cancer. Nerium oleander L. is an important Chinese
folk medicine having well proven cardio protective and cytotoxic effect.
Oleandrin (a toxic
cardiac glycoside of N. oleander L.) inhibits the activity of nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B chain (NF-κB) in various cultured cell lines (U937, CaOV3, human epithelial cells and T cells) as well as it induces programmed cell death in PC3 cell line culture. The mechanism of action includes improved cellular export of
fibroblast growth factor-2, induction of apoptosis through Fas gene expression in
tumor cells, formation of
superoxide radicals that cause
tumor cell injury through mitochondrial disruption, inhibition of
interleukin-8 that mediates
tumorigenesis and induction of
tumor cell autophagy. The present review focuses the applicability of
oleandrin in
cancer treatment and concerned future perspective in the area.