Quercetin, A Flavonoid with Remarkable Anticancer Activity

Abstract

Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally and is responsible for about 10 million deaths per year. Several therapeutic options are available currently to treat this deadly disease by targeting various enzymes, receptors, signaling pathways, and nucleic acids. Development of drug resistance, new oncogenic proteins, and recurrence demands sustained discovery of new therapeutic options. Flavonoids are a class of plant polyphenols consisting of 15 carbon skeletons with two benzene rings linked together to a heterocyclic pyrone ring. So far, more than 4,000 flavonoids of different types have been discovered from nature. Flavonoids exhibit several biological activities, including cancer. Quercetin (QCT) is one of the most studied flavonoids that belongs to the flavones subclass. In the recent five years, immense efforts have been made in discovering the anticancer aspect of QCT. This book chapter summarizes the anticancer activities of QCT on various cancer cells (in vitro) and tumors (in vivo) reported in the last five years. © 2022 Bentham Science Publishers.