Advances in research on antitumor preparations of cardiac glycoside

Cardiac glycoside is a class of steroidal glycosides with significant physiological activities to the heart. Several drugs had been approved for the treatment of heart failure and atrial fibrillation. In recent studies, the researchers have found that cardiac glycoside can selectively inhibit the proliferation of human tumor cells and has potent antitumor efficacy. Unfortunately, the poor solubility and severe adverse effects of cardiac glycoside hindered further clinical application in the field of anticancer. It is an effective strategy to solve the "drug-like" problem of cardiac glycoside by changing the pharmacokinetics and distribution in vivo and reducing the dosage and side effects by virtue of modern preparations technology and treatment scheme. In this review, a brief introduction of the developmental course and mechanism of cardiac glycosides in anticancer field was made, and recent research progress of cardiac glycosides preparations were summarized and discussed. Finally, the further research direction was prospected.