Garcinol and Its Role in Chronic Diseases.

The various bioactive compounds isolated from leaves and fruits of Garcinia sps plants, have beencharacterized and experimentally demonstrated to be anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer in nature. Garcinol, a polyisoprenylated benzophenone, obtained from plant Garcinia indica has been found to be aneffective inhibitor of several key regulatory pathways (e.g., NF-kB, STAT3 etc.) in cancer cells, thereby being ableto control malignant growth of solid tumours in vivo. Despite its high potential as an anti-neoplastic modulator ofseveral cancer types such as head and neck cancer, breast cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, prostate cancer, colon cancer etc., it is still in preclinical stage due to lack of systematic and conclusive evaluation ofpharmacological parameters. While it is promising anti-cancer effects are being positively ascertained fortherapeutic development, studies on its effectiveness in ameliorating other chronic diseases such ascardiovascular diseases, diabetes, allergy, neurodegenerative diseases etc., though seem favourable, are veryrecent and require in depth scientific investigation.