| Rank |
Pathway / Target Axis |
Direction |
Primary Effect |
Notes / Cancer Relevance |
Ref |
| 1 |
Glutathione (GSH) redox buffering |
↓ GSH (depletion) |
Upstream redox vulnerability |
Leukemia and HeLa models report GSH depletion as an early, causal event in PG-induced cytotoxicity |
(ref) |
| 2 |
Nrf2 antioxidant-response axis |
↓ Nrf2 nuclear translocation → ↓ γ-GCS |
Impaired antioxidant capacity |
PG inhibits Nrf2 nuclear translocation and downstream glutathione-synthesis control, linking to GSH depletion and apoptosis in leukemia cells |
(ref) |
| 3 |
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) balance (context-dependent) |
↑ ROS (tumor models) / ↓ ROS (TMZ-combo migration model) |
Oxidative-stress modulation |
PG increases ROS in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with autophagy/apoptosis; in TMZ-treated glioma, PG inhibits TMZ-induced ROS linked to reduced migration |
(ref)
|
| 4 |
MAPK stress signaling (ERK/JNK/p38) |
↑ MAPK activation |
Stress-to-death signaling |
PG activates MAPKs; authors position MAPKs/Nrf2-mediated GSH depletion as an early driver of apoptosis |
(ref) |
| 5 |
Autophagy program (LC3 conversion) |
↑ autophagy |
Stress response contributing to growth inhibition |
HCC study: PG induces ROS and activates autophagy (LC3-I→LC3-II), with associated apoptosis markers |
(ref) |
| 6 |
Apoptosis (caspase cascade; intrinsic/extrinsic components) |
↑ caspase activation / ↑ apoptosis |
Programmed cell death |
Leukemia: caspases-3/8/9 activation with p53/Bax/Fas/FasL changes; lung cancer: caspase-dependent apoptosis with PARP cleavage |
(ref) |
| 7 |
Cell-cycle regulation |
↑ G1 arrest (e.g., ↑ p27) |
Proliferation blockade |
HeLa and lung cancer models report PG-induced G1 phase arrest with cell-cycle regulator changes |
(ref) |
| 8 |
Lung cancer growth suppression |
↓ proliferation / ↓ viability |
Anti-growth effect |
PG reduces growth of Calu-6 and A549 lung cancer cells with G1 arrest and caspase-dependent apoptosis |
(ref) |
| 9 |
Migration / invasion phenotype (TMZ-combination glioma model) |
↓ migration (via ↓ TMZ-induced ROS; NF-κB pathway implicated in full paper title) |
Anti-migratory effect (combination context) |
TMZ + PG enhances inhibition of U87MG glioma migration; abstract states PG inhibits TMZ-induced ROS and implicates mitochondrial complex III / NADPH oxidase as ROS sources |
(ref) |
| 10 |
In vivo anti-tumor effect (HCC; zebrafish model) |
↓ tumor growth / ↓ proliferation |
Demonstrated in vivo activity |
HCC study includes in vivo suppression (zebrafish) alongside ROS increase and autophagy activation |
(ref) |