Synthetic phosphoethanolamine: the state of the art of scientific production

ABSTRACT Cancer is a multifactorial disease and a serious public health problem. Currently, alternative drug treatments for cancer are actively being sought, which is the case of synthetic phosphoethanolamine (PHOS-S), a compound that could possibly have anticarcinogenic effects. To analyze the available scientific evidence to evaluate the anticarcinogenic effects of in vivo and in vitro PHOS-S. A systematic literature review of scientific articles aimed at evaluating the anticarcinogenic potential of PHOS-S, in vivo and in vitro, using the databases PubMed, ScienceDirect, SciElo, CAPES Portal and LILACS. The selected papers suggest a possible anticarcinogenic effect of PHOS-S by inhibiting tumor growth by inducing apoptosis and cell cycle blockade as well as cytotoxic potential against leukemia cells. However, a possible stimulatory effect of tumor growth was also observed. Although some of the evaluated studies indicated a possible anticarcinogenic effect of PHOS-S, the limitations of these studies must be evaluated. Most were performed by the same research group, and in the scientific literature, we identified only preclinical studies (in cells or in animals). No human study has been published. Thus, more studies are needed to confirm the anticarcinogenic capacity of PHOS-S.

摘要 癌症是一种多因素疾病，亦是严重的公共卫生问题。当前学界正积极探寻癌症的替代药物治疗方案，合成型磷酸乙醇胺（synthetic phosphoethanolamine, PHOS-S）便是一类潜在具有抗癌效应的化合物。本研究旨在梳理现有科学证据，以评估PHOS-S在体内、体外实验中的抗癌效应。本研究采用系统综述法，检索PubMed、ScienceDirect、SciElo、CAPES门户及LILACS数据库中针对PHOS-S体内、体外抗癌潜力的学术文献。纳入分析的文献显示，PHOS-S或可通过诱导细胞凋亡、阻断细胞周期以抑制肿瘤生长，并对白血病细胞展现出细胞毒性，从而发挥潜在抗癌效应。但部分研究同时发现，PHOS-S或存在促进肿瘤生长的效应。尽管部分纳入评估的研究提示PHOS-S具有潜在抗癌效应，但仍需审视这些研究的局限性。多数研究由同一研究团队完成，且目前学界仅发表了细胞或动物层面的临床前研究，尚未见人体试验相关报道。因此，仍需开展更多研究以验证PHOS-S的抗癌能力。