Efeitos da própolis e seus componentes bioativos em glioblastoma multiforme

Abstract

Glioblastoma is the most malignant tumor of the central nervous system, with a global incidence of 3 cases in every 100,000 people and a survival rate of approximately 12 months. Standard treatment regimens include surgical resection of the tumor and radiotherapy with concomitant chemotherapy. Standard therapies are often ineffective due to high intra- and intertumoral heterogeneity, resistance to chemo and radiotherapy, high metastatic activity and tumor recurrence. Propolis is a resinous substance produced by bees to coat the hive internally and has broad pharmacological activity, such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, antitumor, among others. Due to the complex composition of chemical substances with potential biological effect and high variability of composition throughout the world, the objective of this review is to collect and summarize the evidence related to the efficacy of propolis and its bioactive compounds as a potential therapeutic in glioblastoma multiforme. An integrative review was carried out, where articles were selected from the Pubmed, Web of Science and Scopus databases. Propolis and its bioactive compounds show cytotoxic, antiproliferative, antimigratory, pro-autophagic, and antimetastatic activities, as well as morphological alterations and permeabilization of cell membranes. Synergistic effects have been demonstrated with plant extracts and with temozolomide, the standard chemotherapy for glioblastoma multiforme. The low number of studies found suggests that the bioactive components of propolis and the target molecules involved need to be elucidated in order to develop new therapies for glioblastoma.