Effects of Natural Products on Mcl-1 Expression and Function

Cancer development is mostly due to a deregulation of cell death as cancer cellsbecome resistant to apoptosis by increasing expression of anti-apoptotic proteins belongingto the Bcl-2 family. Mcl-1 is one anti-apoptotic protein, which is mainly responsible forcancer cell resistance as it is overexpressed by most cancer cell types. Many research projectsaim to restore cancer cell death by using natural pharmacological scaffolds targetinganti-apoptotic proteins to inhibit their effect in cancer development. This review introduces natural compoundinhibitors of the Bcl-2 protein family with a focus on Mcl-1.