| Rank |
Pathway / Target Axis |
Direction |
Primary Effect |
Notes / Cancer Relevance |
Ref |
| 1 |
Oxidative stress (redox cycling) |
↑ ROS |
Upstream cytotoxic trigger |
Plumbagin induces ROS; ROS generation is causally linked to cell death in cancer models |
(ref) |
| 2 |
Mitochondrial integrity (ΔΨm) |
↓ ΔΨm |
Mitochondrial dysfunction |
Loss of mitochondrial membrane potential occurs during plumbagin-induced apoptotic progression |
(ref) |
| 3 |
Intrinsic apoptosis (caspase cascade) |
↑ caspase-dependent apoptosis |
Programmed cell death |
Plumbagin triggers apoptosis in leukemia and solid tumor cells; antioxidant rescue attenuates killing |
(ref) |
| 4 |
NF-κB signaling |
↓ NF-κB activation |
Reduced pro-survival / inflammatory transcription |
Demonstrates plumbagin suppresses NF-κB signaling in tumor/immune contexts (direction explicitly shown) |
(ref) |
| 5 |
STAT3 signaling |
↓ STAT3 phosphorylation |
Reduced survival & proliferation signaling |
Plumbagin suppresses constitutive and inducible STAT3 phosphorylation in cancer cells |
(ref) |
| 6 |
PI3K–AKT–mTOR signaling |
↓ PI3K/AKT/mTOR activity |
Survival pathway suppression |
Plumbagin inhibits PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling in cancer cells with linked apoptosis/autophagy outcomes |
(ref) |
| 7 |
Autophagy program |
↑ autophagy |
Stress response (context-dependent role) |
Plumbagin induces autophagy alongside apoptosis; pathway involvement (p38, PI3K/AKT/mTOR) is demonstrated |
(ref) |
| 8 |
Stress MAPK (p38 MAPK) |
↑ p38 activation |
Stress signaling amplification |
p38 MAPK activation is implicated in plumbagin-driven apoptosis/autophagy signaling in cancer cells |
(ref) |
| 9 |
Cell cycle control |
↑ G2/M (or S–G2/M) arrest |
Proliferation blockade |
Plumbagin induces checkpoint arrest with changes in cyclins/CDKs consistent with growth inhibition |
(ref) |
| 10 |
Death receptor axis (TRAIL receptors DR4/DR5) |
↑ DR4/DR5 expression |
Sensitizes to TRAIL-mediated killing |
Plumbagin increases DR4/DR5 and enhances TRAIL killing; NAC blocks both ROS and receptor upregulation |
(ref) |
| 11 |
EMT / invasion programs |
↓ EMT (anti-invasive) |
Reduced metastasis-related phenotype |
Plumbagin suppresses epithelial–mesenchymal transition and stemness-related markers in cancer cells |
(ref) |
| 12 |
Angiogenesis signaling (VEGFR2/VEGF-driven endothelial responses) |
↓ angiogenesis signaling / function |
Anti-angiogenic effect |
Plumbagin inhibits tumor angiogenesis via interference with VEGFR2-mediated signaling in endothelial/tumor models |
(ref) |