The Therapeutic Potential of Berberine in Lung Cancer

Lung cancer has the second-highest incidence rate after breast cancer and remains the leading cause of cancer-related mortality. The 1-year survival rate for lung cancer patients is below 50%, highlighting the urgent need for novel therapeutic strategies and drug development. Phytochemicals and their derivatives have been widely explored for their anticancer properties, serving as chemotherapeutic agents against various types of cancer. One of these herbal compounds, berberine (BBR), a quaternary isoquinoline alkaloid, has shown significant promise in preclinical studies and is currently undergoing clinical trials for cancer treatment. BBR exhibits diverse biological activities, contributing to its anticancer potential, including antioxidant, antidiarrheal, antidiabetic, antimicrobial, and so on. However, despite its multifunctional therapeutic potential, BBR faces several limitations, hindering its clinical application, like poor bioavailability, low tissue uptake, a short plasma half-life, and rapid metabolic elimination. To address these challenges, various targeted drug delivery approaches have been developed to improve its efficacy. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of drug delivery strategies designed to encapsulate BBR for enhanced lung cancer therapy, highlighting the most recent advancements in the field. Moreover, the molecular structure of BBR and the biological pathways it targets to inhibit lung cancer progression are discussed in detail. Finally, BBR-encapsulated nanocarriers specifically developed for lung cancer therapy are evaluated in terms of their benefits, limitations, and overall therapeutic potential.