Pomegranate in Cancer Therapy: A Review of Anticancer Potential, Mechanisms and Clinical Challenges in Breast, Colon and Prostate Cancers

Dusanka Kitic; Bojana Miladinovic; Milica Randjelovic; Agnieszka Szopa; Veronique Seidel; Javad Sharifi-Rad; William N Setzer; Daniela Calina

doi:10.1002/ptr.70382

Pomegranate in Cancer Therapy: A Review of Anticancer Potential, Mechanisms and Clinical Challenges in Breast, Colon and Prostate Cancers

Phytother Res. 2026 May 22. doi: 10.1002/ptr.70382. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Dusanka Kitic¹, Bojana Miladinovic¹, Milica Randjelovic¹, Agnieszka Szopa², Veronique Seidel³, Javad Sharifi-Rad^{4

5

6}, William N Setzer^{7

8}, Daniela Calina⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Niš, Nis, Serbia.
² Department of Medicinal Plant and Mushroom Biotechnology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland.
³ Natural Products Research Laboratory, Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK.
⁴ Universidad Espíritu Santo, Samborondón, Ecuador.
⁵ Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
⁶ Centro de Estudios Tecnológicos y Universitarios del Golfo, Veracruz, Mexico.
⁷ Aromatic Plant Research Center, Lehi, Utah, USA.
⁸ Department of Chemistry, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama, USA.
⁹ Department of Clinical Pharmacy, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, Craiova, Romania.

PMID: 42174764
DOI: 10.1002/ptr.70382

Abstract

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is a plant that has been used in traditional medicine for centuries and that has gain popularity in recent years as an anticancer dietary supplement. For the purpose of this review, a comprehensive literature search was performed to gather articles published between 1993 and 2021 and describing the therapeutic potential of pomegranate fruit extracts, juice, and seed oil on breast, colon, and prostate cancer. The results of the studies highlighted the fact that while the consumption of pomegranate has been associated with a number of beneficial effects on cancer, it still remains unclear which chemicals are responsible for such effects. It is hoped that this review will encourage further investigations on pomegranate in order to identify the compounds (or their metabolites) responsible for biological activity and unravel their mode(s) of action at the molecular level.

Keywords: Punica granatum; breast cancer; colon cancer; pomegranate; prostate cancer.

Publication types

Review