Ursolic acid / Apoptosis Cancer Research Results

UA, Ursolic acid: Click to Expand ⟱
Features:
Natural compound found in apples and rosemary.
Ursolic acid (UA) is a pentacyclic triterpenoid found in many plants (notably apple peel, rosemary, thyme, holy basil, and other herbs). In cancer models it is best described as a multi-target signaling modulator with prominent effects on NF-κB inflammation/survival transcription, STAT3, PI3K/AKT/mTOR, and MAPK pathways, with downstream outcomes including cell-cycle arrest, apoptosis, anti-angiogenesis, and reduced invasion/EMT. A practical translational constraint is poor aqueous solubility and low oral bioavailability, so many strong in-vitro µM effects may not map cleanly to typical oral exposure without formulation.

Rank Pathway / Axis Cancer Cells Normal Cells TSF Primary Effect Notes / Interpretation
1 NF-κB inflammatory / survival transcription NF-κB ↓; COX-2/iNOS/cytokines/Bcl-2 family/MMPs ↓ (reported) Inflammation tone ↓ (context) R, G Anti-inflammatory + anti-survival transcription One of the most frequently reported UA effects across tumor models; downstream impacts include reduced pro-survival and pro-metastatic gene programs.
2 STAT3 axis (JAK/STAT3 signaling) STAT3 activity ↓ (reported); downstream targets ↓ ↔ R, G Oncogenic transcription suppression UA is often reported to suppress STAT3 signaling, contributing to reduced proliferation/survival signaling.
3 PI3K → AKT (± mTOR) survival axis PI3K/AKT ↓; mTORC1 tone ↓ (reported; model-dependent) ↔ R, G Growth/survival modulation Commonly listed mechanism; direction and strength vary by cell line and exposure.
4 MAPK re-wiring (ERK / JNK / p38) Stress-MAPK modulation (context-dependent) ↔ P, R, G Signal reprogramming JNK/p38 activation and ERK modulation are reported variably; avoid fixed arrows unless tied to a specific model.
5 Cell-cycle checkpoints (Cyclins/CDKs; p21/p27) Cell-cycle arrest ↑ (G1/S or G2/M; reported); Cyclin D1/CDKs ↓ (context) ↔ G Cytostasis Often downstream of NF-κB/STAT3/PI3K signaling suppression.
6 Intrinsic apoptosis (mitochondrial/caspase linked) Apoptosis ↑; Bax ↑; Bcl-2 ↓; caspases ↑ (reported) ↔ (generally less activation) G Cell death execution Common downstream endpoint; can be coupled to stress signaling and survival pathway suppression.
7 Angiogenesis signaling (VEGF / HIF-1α outputs) VEGF ↓; angiogenic outputs ↓ (reported) ↔ G Anti-angiogenic support Typically phenotype-level effects tied to NF-κB/PI3K/HIF programs.
8 Invasion / metastasis programs (MMPs / EMT) MMP2/MMP9 ↓; EMT markers ↓; migration/invasion ↓ (reported) ↔ G Anti-invasive phenotype Often downstream of NF-κB/STAT3 changes; not universal across all tumors.
9 ROS / redox modulation ROS direction variable; redox stress or buffering reported (context) Oxidative injury ↓ in some non-tumor stress models P, R, G Stress modulation UA is not a reliable “pro-oxidant killer”; redox effects depend on dose, model, and baseline oxidative state.
10 Bioavailability / formulation constraint Systemic exposure often limited (poor solubility) — — Translation constraint UA is highly lipophilic with poor aqueous solubility; many formulations (e.g., nanoparticles, phospholipid complexes) are explored to improve exposure.

Time-Scale Flag (TSF): P / R / G

  • P: 0–30 min (rapid signaling interactions)
  • R: 30 min–3 hr (acute stress-response + transcription signaling shifts)
  • G: >3 hr (gene-regulatory adaptation and phenotype-level outcomes)
Apoptosis, Apoptosis: Click to Expand ⟱
Source:
Type: type of cell death
Situation in which a cell actively pursues a course toward death upon receiving certain stimuli.
Cancer is one of the scenarios where too little apoptosis occurs, resulting in malignant cells that will not die.
Scientific Papers found: Click to Expand⟱
5022- UA,    Ursolic Acid’s Alluring Journey: One Triterpenoid vs. Cancer Hallmarks
- Review, Var, NA
TumCP↓, Apoptosis↑, angioG↑, TumMeta↓, BioAv↓, Hif1a↓, Glycolysis↓, mitResp↓, Akt↓, MAPK↓, ERK↓, mTOR↓, P53↑, P21↑, E2Fs↑, STAT3↓, MMP↓, NLRP3↓, iNOS↓, CHK1↓, Chk2↓, BRCA1↓, E-cadherin↑, N-cadherin↓, Casp↑, p62↓, LC3II↑, Vim↓, ROS↑, CSCs↓, DNAdam↑, GutMicro↑, VEGF↓,
5021- UA,    Anticancer effect of ursolic acid via mitochondria-dependent pathways
- Review, Var, NA
Inflam↓, TNF-α↓, IL6↓, IL17↓, NF-kB↓, COX2↓, *AntiDiabetic↑, *hepatoP↑, ALAT↓, AST↓, TumCP↓, Apoptosis↑, TumCCA↑, TumAuto↑, tumCV↓, TumCMig↓, Glycolysis↓, ATP↓, lactateProd↓, HK2↓, PKA↓, COX2↓, mtDam↑, Casp3↑, Casp8↑, Casp9↑, Akt↓, ROS↑, MMP↓, P53↑,
5020- UA,    Anticancer activity of ursolic acid on human ovarian cancer cells via ROS and MMP mediated apoptosis, cell cycle arrest and downregulation of PI3K/AKT pathway
- in-vitro, Ovarian, NA
tumCV↓, selectivity↑, BAX↑, Bcl-2↓, Apoptosis↑, ROS↑, TumCCA↑, Akt↓, PI3K↓,
5019- UA,    Ursolic acid in colorectal cancer: mechanisms, current status, challenges, and future research directions
- Review, Var, NA
TumCP↓, Diff↑, Apoptosis↑, TumCI↓, angioG↓,
5017- UA,    Ursolic acid disturbs ROS homeostasis and regulates survival-associated gene expression to induce apoptosis in intestinal cancer cells
- in-vitro, Cerv, INT-407 - in-vitro, CRC, HCT116
AntiCan↑, TumCG↓, ROS↑, Apoptosis↑, TumCMig↓, CTNNB1↓, Twist↓, Bcl-2↓, survivin↓, NF-kB↓, Sp1/3/4↓, BAX↑, P21↑, P53↑, eff↓, TumCMig↓,
2350- UA,    Ursolic acid-mediated changes in glycolytic pathway promote cytotoxic autophagy and apoptosis in phenotypically different breast cancer cells
- in-vitro, BC, MCF-7 - in-vitro, BC, MDA-MB-231
Akt↓, Glycolysis↓, HK2↓, PKM2↓, ATP↓, lactateProd↓, AMPK↑, TumAuto↑, Apoptosis↑, ERK↓, MMP↓, NO↑, ROS↑, DNAdam↑,
1020- UA,    Root Bark of Morus alba L. and Its Bioactive Ingredient, Ursolic Acid, Suppress the Proliferation of Multiple Myeloma Cells by Inhibiting Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway
- in-vitro, Melanoma, RPMI-8226
β-catenin/ZEB1↓, TCF↓, cMyc↓, cycD1/CCND1↓, TumCP↓, TumCCA↑, Apoptosis↑, cl‑Casp3↑, cl‑PARP↑, Casp7↑,

Showing Research Papers: 1 to 7 of 7

* indicates research on normal cells as opposed to diseased cells
Total Research Paper Matches: 7

Pathway results for Effect on Cancer / Diseased Cells:


Redox & Oxidative Stress ⓘ

ROS↑, 5,  

Mitochondria & Bioenergetics ⓘ

ATP↓, 2,   mitResp↓, 1,   MMP↓, 3,   mtDam↑, 1,  

Core Metabolism/Glycolysis ⓘ

ALAT↓, 1,   AMPK↑, 1,   cMyc↓, 1,   Glycolysis↓, 3,   HK2↓, 2,   lactateProd↓, 2,   PKM2↓, 1,  

Cell Death ⓘ

Akt↓, 4,   Apoptosis↑, 7,   BAX↑, 2,   Bcl-2↓, 2,   Casp↑, 1,   Casp3↑, 1,   cl‑Casp3↑, 1,   Casp7↑, 1,   Casp8↑, 1,   Casp9↑, 1,   Chk2↓, 1,   iNOS↓, 1,   MAPK↓, 1,   survivin↓, 1,  

Kinase & Signal Transduction ⓘ

Sp1/3/4↓, 1,  

Transcription & Epigenetics ⓘ

tumCV↓, 2,  

Autophagy & Lysosomes ⓘ

LC3II↑, 1,   p62↓, 1,   TumAuto↑, 2,  

DNA Damage & Repair ⓘ

BRCA1↓, 1,   CHK1↓, 1,   DNAdam↑, 2,   P53↑, 3,   cl‑PARP↑, 1,  

Cell Cycle & Senescence ⓘ

cycD1/CCND1↓, 1,   E2Fs↑, 1,   P21↑, 2,   TumCCA↑, 3,  

Proliferation, Differentiation & Cell State ⓘ

CSCs↓, 1,   CTNNB1↓, 1,   Diff↑, 1,   ERK↓, 2,   mTOR↓, 1,   PI3K↓, 1,   STAT3↓, 1,   TCF↓, 1,   TumCG↓, 1,  

Migration ⓘ

E-cadherin↑, 1,   N-cadherin↓, 1,   PKA↓, 1,   TumCI↓, 1,   TumCMig↓, 3,   TumCP↓, 4,   TumMeta↓, 1,   Twist↓, 1,   Vim↓, 1,   β-catenin/ZEB1↓, 1,  

Angiogenesis & Vasculature ⓘ

angioG↓, 1,   angioG↑, 1,   Hif1a↓, 1,   NO↑, 1,   VEGF↓, 1,  

Immune & Inflammatory Signaling ⓘ

COX2↓, 2,   IL17↓, 1,   IL6↓, 1,   Inflam↓, 1,   NF-kB↓, 2,   TNF-α↓, 1,  

Protein Aggregation ⓘ

NLRP3↓, 1,  

Drug Metabolism & Resistance ⓘ

BioAv↓, 1,   eff↓, 1,   selectivity↑, 1,  

Clinical Biomarkers ⓘ

ALAT↓, 1,   AST↓, 1,   BRCA1↓, 1,   GutMicro↑, 1,   IL6↓, 1,  

Functional Outcomes ⓘ

AntiCan↑, 1,  
Total Targets: 80

Pathway results for Effect on Normal Cells:


Functional Outcomes ⓘ

AntiDiabetic↑, 1,   hepatoP↑, 1,  
Total Targets: 2

Scientific Paper Hit Count for: Apoptosis, Apoptosis
7 Ursolic acid
Query results interpretion may depend on "conditions" listed in the research papers.
Such Conditions may include : 
  -low or high Dose
  -format for product, such as nano of lipid formations
  -different cell line effects
  -synergies with other products 
  -if effect was for normal or cancerous cells

Filter Conditions: Pro/AntiFlg:%  IllCat:%  CanType:%  Cells:%  prod#:164  Target#:14  State#:%  Dir#:2
  wNotes=0  sortOrder:rid,rpid

 

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