Silymarin (Milk Thistle) silibinin / Bcl-2 Cancer Research Results

SIL, Silymarin (Milk Thistle) silibinin: Click to Expand ⟱
Features:
Silymarin (Milk Thistle) Flowering herb related to daisy and ragweed family.
Silibinin (INN), also known as silybin is the major active constituent of silymarin, a standardized extract of the milk thistle seeds.
-a flavonoid combination of 65–80% of seven flavolignans; the most important of these include silybin, isosilybin, silychristin, isosilychristin, and silydianin. Silybin is the most abundant compound in around 50–70% in isoforms silybin A and silybin B

-Note half-life 6hrs?.
BioAv not soluble in water, low bioAv (1%). 240mg yielded only 0.34ug/ml plasma level. oral administration of SM (equivalent to 120 mg silibinin), total (unconjugated + conjugated) silibinin concentration in plasma was 1.1–1.3 μg/mL, so can not achieve levels used in most in-vitro studies.
Pathways:
- results for both inducing and reducing ROS in cancer cells. In normal cell seems to consistently lower ROS. Reports show both ROS↑ and ROS↓ in cancer models; systemic pro-oxidant effects may require higher exposures than typical oral dosing, but local or combination contexts may differ. (level in GUT could be much higher (800uM).
- ROS↑ related: MMP↓(ΔΨm), Ca+2↑, Cyt‑c↑, Caspases↑, DNA damage↑, cl-PARP↑,
- Raises AntiOxidant defense in Normal Cells: ROS↓, NRF2↑, SOD↑, GSH↑, Catalase↑,
- lowers Inflammation : NF-kB↓, COX2↓, p38↓(context-dependent; often stress-activated), Pro-Inflammatory Cytokines : NLRP3↓, IL-1β↓, TNF-α↓, IL-6↓, IL-8↓
- inhibit Growth/Metastases : TumMeta↓, TumCG↓, EMT↓, MMPs↓, MMP2↓, MMP9↓, TIMP2, uPA↓, VEGF↓, FAK↓, NF-κB↓, CXCR4↓, TGF-β↓, α-SMA↓, ERK↓
- reactivate genes thereby inhibiting cancer cell growth : HDAC↓, DNMTs↓, P53↑, HSP↓,
- cause Cell cycle arrest : TumCCA↑, cyclin D1↓, cyclin E↓, CDK2↓, CDK4↓,
- inhibits Migration/Invasion : TumCMig↓, TumCI↓, TNF-α↓, FAK↓, ERK↓, EMT↓,
- inhibits glycolysis and ATP depletion : HIF-1α↓, PKM2↓, cMyc↓, GLUT1↓, LDH↓, LDHA↓, HK2↓, PFKs↓, GRP78↑(ER stress), Glucose↓, GlucoseCon↓
- inhibits angiogenesis↓ : VEGF↓, HIF-1α↓, Notch↓, PDGF↓, EGFR↓,
- inhibits Cancer Stem Cells : CSC↓, Hh↓, GLi1↓, β-catenin↓, Notch2↓, OCT4↓,
- Others: PI3K↓, AKT↓, JAK↓, STAT↓, Wnt↓, β-catenin↓, AMPK, ERK↓, JNK, - SREBP (related to cholesterol).
- Synergies: chemo-sensitization, chemoProtective, RadioSensitizer, RadioProtective, Others(review target notes), Neuroprotective, Cognitive, Renoprotection, Hepatoprotective, CardioProtective,

- Selectivity: Cancer Cells vs Normal Cells

Rank Pathway / Axis Cancer Cells Normal Cells TSF Primary Effect Notes / Interpretation
1 ROS / redox buffering + mitochondrial protection Often ↑ stress susceptibility; can support apoptosis when survival signaling is blocked ↓ oxidative stress; mitochondrial protection P, R, G Context-selective redox modulation Silymarin is classically cytoprotective/antioxidant in normal tissues (notably liver), while in tumors it can weaken pro-survival adaptation and increase vulnerability to stressors and therapy.
2 Intrinsic apoptosis (mitochondria → caspases) ↑ apoptosis signaling; ↑ caspase activation ↔ minimal activation G Cell death execution Common downstream outcome in cancer models: apoptosis increases after earlier signaling/redox shifts and/or checkpoint disruption.
3 Cell-cycle control (cyclins/CDKs; checkpoints) ↑ arrest (G1/S or G2/M depending on model) ↔ G Cytostasis Typically observed as reduced proliferation with checkpoint engagement; timing usually later than kinase phosphorylation changes.
4 NF-κB inflammatory transcription ↓ NF-κB activity; ↓ inflammatory/pro-survival tone ↔ or protective anti-inflammatory effect R, G Anti-inflammatory / anti-survival transcription NF-κB suppression can reduce tumor-promoting inflammation and blunt stress-adaptive survival programs.
5 JAK/STAT3 axis (incl. PD-L1 / immune escape programs in some models) ↓ STAT3 signaling (context); may ↓ PD-L1 in certain tumor contexts ↔ R, G Reduced survival + immune-evasion signaling Reported to attenuate STAT3-driven tumor programs and, in some contexts, reduce immune-suppressive signaling (model dependent).
6 PI3K → AKT → mTOR survival / growth signaling ↓ PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling (context) ↔ R, G Growth/survival suppression Reduced PI3K/AKT/mTOR tone increases sensitivity to apoptosis and can reinforce cell-cycle arrest.
7 MAPK re-wiring (ERK/p38/JNK balance) Stress-MAPK shifts; ERK tone often reduced or re-patterned ↔ P, R, G Signal reprogramming Early phosphorylation shifts can precede later gene-expression changes; exact ERK direction is model and dose dependent.
8 Angiogenesis (VEGF and angiogenic factors) ↓ VEGF / angiogenesis outputs ↔ G Anti-angiogenic support Typically reflected in reduced pro-angiogenic expression/secretion and angiogenesis-related phenotypes over longer windows.
9 EMT / invasion / migration programs (incl. TGF-β/Smad-associated EMT in some systems) ↓ EMT markers; ↓ migration/invasion ↔ G Anti-invasive phenotype Often presents as restoration of epithelial markers and suppression of migration/invasion assays; commonly a later phenotype-level outcome.
10 Xenobiotic handling (Phase I/II enzymes; cytoprotection / chemoprevention framing) May alter carcinogen activation/detox balance ↑ detox / cytoprotection against xenobiotics G Chemopreventive protection A key “dual strategy” theme: protection of normal tissue from toxins/therapy while modulating tumor response pathways.
11 Drug resistance / efflux (MDR phenotype; P-gp-related resistance in some models) May ↓ functional MDR and ↑ chemo sensitivity (context) ↔ R, G Chemo-sensitization support Reported synergy with chemotherapy in resistant tumor settings; transporter direction can be context-specific, so present as “reported to reduce functional resistance” rather than a universal single-transporter claim.
12 Immune microenvironment signaling (cytokines / macrophage recruitment in some models) May ↓ pro-tumor cytokine programs and recruitment signals (context) ↔ G Anti-inflammatory tumor microenvironment shift Immune-modulatory effects are increasingly discussed, but they are more model-dependent and typically show on longer time scales.

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

  • P: 0–30 min (primary/physical–chemical effects; rapid signaling / phosphorylation shifts)
  • R: 30 min–3 hr (redox signaling + acute stress-response signaling)
  • G: >3 hr (gene-regulatory adaptation and phenotype-level outcomes)
Bcl-2, B-cell CLL/lymphoma 2: Click to Expand ⟱
Source: HalifaxProj (inhibit) CGL-Driver Genes
Type: Antiapoptotic Oncogene
The proteins of BCL-2 family are classified into three subgroups, i.e., the anti-apoptotic/pro-survival proteins represented by BCL-2 and BCL-XL, the pro-apoptotic proteins represented by BAX and Bak, and the pro-apoptotic BH3-only proteins represented by BAD and BID.
Since the expression of Bcl-2 protein in tumor cells is much higher than that in normal cells, inhibitors targeting it have little effect on normal cells.
Scientific Papers found: Click to Expand⟱
109- SIL,    Silibinin induces apoptosis through inhibition of the mTOR-GLI1-BCL2 pathway in renal cell carcinoma
- vitro+vivo, RCC, 769-P - in-vitro, RCC, 786-O - in-vitro, RCC, ACHN - in-vitro, RCC, OS-RC-2
HH↓, Gli1↓, GLI2↓, mTOR↓, Bcl-2↓, Apoptosis↑, Casp3↑, PARP↑, TumCG↓,
3315- SIL,    Silymarin alleviates docetaxel-induced central and peripheral neurotoxicity by reducing oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis in rats
- in-vivo, Nor, NA
neuroP↑, *NRF2↑, *HO-1↑, *lipid-P↓, *GSH↑, *SOD↑, *Catalase↑, *GPx↑, *NF-kB↓, *TNF-α↓, *JNK↓, *Bcl-2↑, *BAX↑,
3288- SIL,    Silymarin in cancer therapy: Mechanisms of action, protective roles in chemotherapy-induced toxicity, and nanoformulations
- Review, Var, NA
Inflam↓, lipid-P↓, TumMeta↓, angioG↓, chemoP↑, EMT↓, HDAC↓, HATs↑, MMPs↓, uPA↓, PI3K↓, Akt↓, VEGF↓, CD31↓, Hif1a↓, VEGFR2↓, Raf↓, MEK↓, ERK↓, BIM↓, BAX↑, Bcl-2↓, Bcl-xL↓, Casp↑, MAPK↓, P53↑, LC3II↑, mTOR↓, YAP/TEAD↓, *BioAv↓, MMP↓, Cyt‑c↑, PCNA↓, cMyc↓, cycD1/CCND1↓, β-catenin/ZEB1↓, survivin↓, APAF1↑, Casp3↑, MDSCs↓, IL10↓, IL2↑, IFN-γ↑, hepatoP↑, cardioP↑, GSH↑, neuroP↑,
3296- SIL,    Silibinin induces oral cancer cell apoptosis and reactive oxygen species generation by activating the JNK/c-Jun pathway
- in-vitro, Oral, Ca9-22 - in-vivo, Oral, YD10B
TumCP↓, TumCCA↑, ROS↑, SOD1↓, SOD2↓, *JNK↑, toxicity?, TumCMig↓, TumCI↓, N-cadherin↓, Vim↓, E-cadherin↑, EMT↓, P53↑, cl‑Casp3↑, cl‑PARP↑, BAX↑, Bcl-2↓, SOD↓,
3293- SIL,    Silymarin (milk thistle extract) as a therapeutic agent in gastrointestinal cancer
- Review, Var, NA
hepatoP↑, TumMeta↓, Inflam↓, chemoP↑, radioP↑, Half-Life↝, *GSTs↑, p‑JNK↑, BAX↑, p‑p38↑, cl‑PARP↑, Bcl-2↓, p‑ERK↓, TumVol↓, eff↑, TumCCA↑, STAT3↓, Mcl-1↓, survivin↓, Bcl-xL↓, Casp3↑, Casp9↑, eff↑, CXCR4↓, Dose↝,
3290- SIL,    A review of therapeutic potentials of milk thistle (Silybum marianum L.) and its main constituent, silymarin, on cancer, and their related patents
- Analysis, Var, NA
hepatoP↑, chemoP↑, *lipid-P↓, *antiOx↑, tumCV↓, TumCMig↓, Apoptosis↑, ROS↑, GSH↓, Bcl-2↓, survivin↓, cycD1/CCND1↓, NOTCH1↓, BAX↑, NF-kB↓, COX2↓, LOX1↓, iNOS↓, TNF-α↓, IL1↓, Inflam↓, *toxicity↓, CXCR4↓, EGFR↓, ERK↓, MMP↓, Cyt‑c↑, TumCCA↑, RB1↑, P53↑, P21↑, p27↑, cycE/CCNE↓, CDK4↓, p‑pRB↓, Hif1a↓, cMyc↓, IL1β↓, IFN-γ↓, PCNA↓, PSA↓, CYP1A1↓,
3289- SIL,    Silymarin: a promising modulator of apoptosis and survival signaling in cancer
- Review, Var, NA
*BioAv↝, *BioAv↓, Fas↑, FasL↑, FADD↑, pro‑Casp8↑, Apoptosis↑, DR5↑, Bcl-2↑, BAX↑, Casp3↑, PI3K↓, FOXM1↓, p‑mTOR↓, p‑P70S6K↓, Hif1a↓, Akt↑, angioG↓, STAT3↓, NF-kB↓, lipid-P↓, eff↑, CDK1↓, survivin↓, CycB/CCNB1↓, Mcl-1↓, Casp9↑, AP-1↓, BioAv↑,
3305- SIL,    Silymarin inhibits proliferation of human breast cancer cells via regulation of the MAPK signaling pathway and induction of apoptosis
- in-vitro, BC, MDA-MB-231 - in-vitro, BC, MCF-7 - in-vivo, NA, NA
TumCP↓, tumCV↓, BAX↑, cl‑PARP↑, Casp9↑, p‑JNK↑, Bcl-2↓, p‑p38↓, p‑ERK↓, *toxicity∅, Dose↝, *hepatoP↑, Inflam↓, AntiCan↑,
3304- SIL,    Silymarin induces inhibition of growth and apoptosis through modulation of the MAPK signaling pathway in AGS human gastric cancer cells
- in-vitro, GC, AGS - in-vivo, NA, NA
BAX↑, p‑JNK↑, p‑p38↑, cl‑PARP↑, Bcl-2↓, p‑ERK↓, TumVol↓, Apoptosis↑, tumCV↓,
3301- SIL,    Critical review of therapeutic potential of silymarin in cancer: A bioactive polyphenolic flavonoid
- Review, Var, NA
Inflam↓, TumCCA↑, Apoptosis↓, TumMeta↓, TumCG↓, angioG↓, chemoP↑, radioP↑, p‑ERK↓, p‑p38↓, p‑JNK↓, P53↑, Bcl-2↓, Bcl-xL↓, TGF-β↓, MMP2↓, MMP9↓, E-cadherin↑, Wnt↓, Vim↓, VEGF↓, IL6↓, STAT3↓, *ROS↓, IL1β↓, PGE2↓, CDK1↓, CycB/CCNB1↓, survivin↓, Mcl-1↓, Casp3↑, Casp9↑, cMyc↓, COX2↓, Hif1a↓, CXCR4↓, CSCs↓, EMT↓, N-cadherin↓, PCNA↓, cycD1/CCND1↓, ROS↑, eff↑, eff↑, eff↑, HER2/EBBR2↓,
3298- SIL,    Silibinin, a natural flavonoid, induces autophagy via ROS-dependent mitochondrial dysfunction and loss of ATP involving BNIP3 in human MCF7 breast cancer cells
- in-vitro, BC, MCF-7
LC3II↑, Beclin-1↑, Bcl-2↓, ROS↑, MMP↓, ATP↓, eff↓, BNIP3?, TumAuto↑, eff↑,

Showing Research Papers: 1 to 11 of 11

* indicates research on normal cells as opposed to diseased cells
Total Research Paper Matches: 11

Pathway results for Effect on Cancer / Diseased Cells:


Redox & Oxidative Stress ⓘ

CYP1A1↓, 1,   GSH↓, 1,   GSH↑, 1,   lipid-P↓, 2,   ROS↑, 4,   SOD↓, 1,   SOD1↓, 1,   SOD2↓, 1,  

Mitochondria & Bioenergetics ⓘ

ATP↓, 1,   MEK↓, 1,   MMP↓, 3,   Raf↓, 1,  

Core Metabolism/Glycolysis ⓘ

cMyc↓, 3,  

Cell Death ⓘ

Akt↓, 1,   Akt↑, 1,   APAF1↑, 1,   Apoptosis↓, 1,   Apoptosis↑, 4,   BAX↑, 7,   Bcl-2↓, 9,   Bcl-2↑, 1,   Bcl-xL↓, 3,   BIM↓, 1,   Casp↑, 1,   Casp3↑, 5,   cl‑Casp3↑, 1,   pro‑Casp8↑, 1,   Casp9↑, 4,   Cyt‑c↑, 2,   DR5↑, 1,   FADD↑, 1,   Fas↑, 1,   FasL↑, 1,   iNOS↓, 1,   p‑JNK↓, 1,   p‑JNK↑, 3,   MAPK↓, 1,   Mcl-1↓, 3,   p27↑, 1,   p‑p38↓, 2,   p‑p38↑, 2,   survivin↓, 5,   YAP/TEAD↓, 1,  

Kinase & Signal Transduction ⓘ

HER2/EBBR2↓, 1,  

Transcription & Epigenetics ⓘ

HATs↑, 1,   p‑pRB↓, 1,   tumCV↓, 3,  

Autophagy & Lysosomes ⓘ

Beclin-1↑, 1,   BNIP3?, 1,   LC3II↑, 2,   TumAuto↑, 1,  

DNA Damage & Repair ⓘ

P53↑, 4,   PARP↑, 1,   cl‑PARP↑, 4,   PCNA↓, 3,  

Cell Cycle & Senescence ⓘ

CDK1↓, 2,   CDK4↓, 1,   CycB/CCNB1↓, 2,   cycD1/CCND1↓, 3,   cycE/CCNE↓, 1,   P21↑, 1,   RB1↑, 1,   TumCCA↑, 4,  

Proliferation, Differentiation & Cell State ⓘ

CSCs↓, 1,   EMT↓, 3,   ERK↓, 2,   p‑ERK↓, 4,   FOXM1↓, 1,   Gli1↓, 1,   HDAC↓, 1,   HH↓, 1,   mTOR↓, 2,   p‑mTOR↓, 1,   NOTCH1↓, 1,   p‑P70S6K↓, 1,   PI3K↓, 2,   STAT3↓, 3,   TumCG↓, 2,   Wnt↓, 1,  

Migration ⓘ

AP-1↓, 1,   CD31↓, 1,   E-cadherin↑, 2,   GLI2↓, 1,   MMP2↓, 1,   MMP9↓, 1,   MMPs↓, 1,   N-cadherin↓, 2,   TGF-β↓, 1,   TumCI↓, 1,   TumCMig↓, 2,   TumCP↓, 2,   TumMeta↓, 3,   uPA↓, 1,   Vim↓, 2,   β-catenin/ZEB1↓, 1,  

Angiogenesis & Vasculature ⓘ

angioG↓, 3,   EGFR↓, 1,   Hif1a↓, 4,   LOX1↓, 1,   VEGF↓, 2,   VEGFR2↓, 1,  

Immune & Inflammatory Signaling ⓘ

COX2↓, 2,   CXCR4↓, 3,   IFN-γ↓, 1,   IFN-γ↑, 1,   IL1↓, 1,   IL10↓, 1,   IL1β↓, 2,   IL2↑, 1,   IL6↓, 1,   Inflam↓, 5,   MDSCs↓, 1,   NF-kB↓, 2,   PGE2↓, 1,   PSA↓, 1,   TNF-α↓, 1,  

Drug Metabolism & Resistance ⓘ

BioAv↑, 1,   Dose↝, 2,   eff↓, 1,   eff↑, 7,   Half-Life↝, 1,  

Clinical Biomarkers ⓘ

EGFR↓, 1,   FOXM1↓, 1,   HER2/EBBR2↓, 1,   IL6↓, 1,   PSA↓, 1,  

Functional Outcomes ⓘ

AntiCan↑, 1,   cardioP↑, 1,   chemoP↑, 4,   hepatoP↑, 3,   neuroP↑, 2,   radioP↑, 2,   toxicity?, 1,   TumVol↓, 2,  
Total Targets: 134

Pathway results for Effect on Normal Cells:


Redox & Oxidative Stress ⓘ

antiOx↑, 1,   Catalase↑, 1,   GPx↑, 1,   GSH↑, 1,   GSTs↑, 1,   HO-1↑, 1,   lipid-P↓, 2,   NRF2↑, 1,   ROS↓, 1,   SOD↑, 1,  

Cell Death ⓘ

BAX↑, 1,   Bcl-2↑, 1,   JNK↓, 1,   JNK↑, 1,  

Immune & Inflammatory Signaling ⓘ

NF-kB↓, 1,   TNF-α↓, 1,  

Drug Metabolism & Resistance ⓘ

BioAv↓, 2,   BioAv↝, 1,  

Functional Outcomes ⓘ

hepatoP↑, 1,   toxicity↓, 1,   toxicity∅, 1,  
Total Targets: 21

Scientific Paper Hit Count for: Bcl-2, B-cell CLL/lymphoma 2
11 Silymarin (Milk Thistle) silibinin
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#:154  Target#:27  State#:%  Dir#:%
  wNotes=0  sortOrder:rid,rpid

 

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