Natural products play significant roles in the development of novel drugs. One of such compounds is
vanillin - a natural substance commonly used in food. Anticancer potential of the substance is continually encouraging researchers to conduct further investigations. A rising number of publications describe the role of
4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde (
vanillin) in the process of inhibiting
tumor growth. Four
vanilloid receptors play significant roles in the response of
cancer cells to the natural compound. Each of these
proteins can be individually affected by
vanillin; thus, the substance either leads to inhibition of the cell proliferation or increases the Ca2+ level. The TRPV1, a non-selective
cation channel permeable to
calcium, acts on
cancer development and progression. Thus,
vanilloid receptors have the potential to become the target for therapeutical research. Moreover, selective inhibitors of the receptor have proved their efficacy in vitro. CK2α is an antiapoptotic,
cancer-sustaining
protein and, therefore, the inhibitor of apoptosis. Thus, drugs that exhibit allosteric and
ATP-competitive inhibition of the
protein might be crucial for
cancer therapy. CAMK4 is a
protein kinase expression associated with a wide array of
cancers. Also, MARK4 is another
kinase responsible for the stability of microtubules, overexpressed in many
cancer types. Studies concerning this
protein revealed that microtubule impairment might be a
cancer therapy direction. This review aims to demonstrate the crucial role of described
vanilloid receptors in inhibiting the proliferation of
cancer cells and to prove the usefulness of using
vanillin and its derivatives in the process of drug design.