Isoliquiritigenin (ISL) and its formulations: potential antitumor agents.

Isoliquiritigenin (2',4',4-trihydroxychalcone, ISL) is one of the most important chalcone compound which mainly derived from licorice root and many other plants. It exhibits a remarkable range of potent biological and pharmacological activities such as antioxidative, antitumor, antiaging, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic activities, etc. Numerous research teams have demonstrated that ISL process the ability to antigrowth and proliferation in various cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Meanwhile, the underlying mechanisms of ISL inhibits cancer cell proliferation have not been well explored. However, the poor bioavailability and low water-soluble limits its clinical application. This review aims at providing a comprehensive overview of the pharmacology antitumor activity of ISL and its mechanisms in different malignancy especially in breast cancer cell line and summarize developments of formulation utilized to overcome the barrier between its delivery characteristics and application in clinical over the past 20 years.