A Mini-review on the Structural Characteristics and Anticancer Activity of Nagilactones

Natural products provide abundant resources for the development of new drugs. Podocarpus nagi is an arbor of Podocarpus L'Hér. ex Persoon. Its fruits, leaves, and roots exhibit a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities (such as antitumor, plant growth regulation, termite killing, and insect larval toxicity), which have been used in Yao folk for a long history. Nagilactone is one of the key components discovered in Podocarpus nagi, which has a variety of structures and a broad spectrum of antitumor activities. In this mini-review, the structures and spectral characteristics, together with the antitumor activities and the structure-activity relationships of nagilactones, are summarized by searching the database in order to provide detailed references for researchers to elucidate and modify their structures.