Natural Products and Their Derivatives: Promising Caspase-3 Activators as Anticancer Agents

Cancer is one of the major causes of global morbidity and mortality. Among various targets for cancer treatment, caspase-3 is an important target whose activation may induce apoptosis and ultimately cell death in cancerous cells. Apart from many synthetic small molecules, several natural products have also been reported as caspase-3 activators. In an extension of our work on caspase-3 activation by small synthetic molecules, we have now focused to review the work on the development of natural products as caspase-3 activators with anticancer activity. Hence, the natural compounds reported in the last 8 years have been broadly classified in different chemical classes to provide some insights into the structural features responsible for caspase-3 activation and their anticancer activities. The study may provide lead molecules for designing novel molecules with enhanced caspase-3 activation with improved cancer therapeutics.