Effects of Natural Products on Mcl-1 Expression and Function

Cancer development is mostly due to a deregulation of cell death as cancer cells become resistant to apoptosis by increasing expression of anti-apoptotic proteins belonging to the Bcl-2 family. Mcl-1 is one anti-apoptotic protein, which is mainly responsible for cancer cell resistance as it is overexpressed by most cancer cell types. Many research projects aim to restore cancer cell death by using natural pharmacological scaffolds targeting anti-apoptotic proteins to inhibit their effect in cancer development. This review introduces natural compound inhibitors of the Bcl-2 protein family with a focus on Mcl-1.