Therapeutic perspective of thymoquinone: A mechanistic treatise

• Main Authors: Masood Sadiq Butt, Muhammad Imran, Ali Imran, Muhammad Sajid Arshad, Farhan Saeed, Tanweer Aslam Gondal, Mohammad Ali Shariati, Syed Amir Gilani, Tabussam Tufail, Ishtiaque Ahmad, Nadir Ali Rind, Mohamad Fawzi Mahomoodally, Saiful Islam, Zaffar Mehmood
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2021-03-01
• Series: Food Science & Nutrition
• Subjects: anticancer; antioxidant potential; cardioprotective disorder; phytochemical; thymoquinone
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1002/fsn3.2070

Abstract The higher utilization of fruits and vegetables is well known to cure human maladies due to the presence of bioactive components. Among these compounds, thymoquinone, a monoterpene and significant constituent in the essential oil of Nigella sativa L., has attained attention by the researchers due to their pharmacologies perspectives such as prevention from cancer, antidiabetic and antiobesity, prevention from oxidative stress and cardioprotective disorder. Thymoquinone has been found to work as anticancer agent against different human and animal cancer stages including propagation, migration, and invasion. Thymoquinone as phytochemical also downregulated the Rac1 expression, mediated the miR‐34a upregulation, and increased the levels of miR‐34a through p53, as well as also regulated the pro‐ and antiapoptotic genes and decreased the phosphorylation of NF‐κB and IKKα/β. In addition, thymoquinone also lowered the metastasis and ERK1/2 and PI3K activities. The present review article has been piled by adapting narrative review method and highlights the diverse aspects of thymoquinone such as hepatoprotective, anti‐inflammatory, and antiaging through various pathways, and further utilization of this compound in diet has been proven effective against different types of cancers.