A review of the anticancer effects of sesquiterpene nerolidol on different malignant conditions

Background: Nerolidol (NER) is a sesquiterpene alcohol with various biological ‎and pharmacological activities, especially antitumor effects against different cancer models. The ‎anticancer properties of NER‎ are reportedly mediated by increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, apoptosis, ‎and DNA damage. Nevertheless, this compound has low solubility, poor bioavailability, and fast ‎hepatic metabolism, which could be overcome by designing proper nanoformulation scenarios. ‎Objectives: This review focuses on the anticancer effect of NER ‎against multiple cancers to highlight the ‎promising features of NER as an applicable anticancer agent.‎ Methods: A collection of papers based on the ‘cancer’ and ‘NER’ MeSH terms was ‎chosen from NCBI/PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar to synthesize the current review. ‎Results: NER was found to act as an adjuvant with contemporary chemotherapy that enhanced the ‎efficacy of chemotherapy drugs on various cancer cells, including osteosarcoma, gastrointestinal, gynecological, breast, ‎skin, blood, liver, and head and neck cancers. ‎Conclusion: NER is an effective antitumor compound against different types of cancers, ‎and its inclusion in the current chemotherapy regimen could improve cancer therapy. Because ‎of low solubility, NER ‎nanoformulation can improve its bioavailability and ‎related  cancer treatment. ‎