Open Access

REVIEW

Farnesol as a multifunctional candidate for treatment development

ANWAR ALI^1,#, SREEKANTH REDDY OBIREDDY^2,#, WING-FU LAI^3,*

1 Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, 410017, China
2 Department of Chemistry, Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur, 515003, India
3 School of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

* Corresponding Author: WING-FU LAI. Email:

BIOCELL 2024, 48(2), 163-171. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2023.043839

Received 14 July 2023; Accepted 30 November 2023; Issue published 23 February 2024

Abstract

Farnesol is a C15 isoprenyl alcohol generated from the hydrolysis of farnesyl diphosphate under the action of farnesol synthase in plants. Although this sesquiterpenoid alcohol has been exploited in a wide variety of industrial applications, serious discussions on the possible use of this agent in disease treatment have been scant until now. In this article, we review the current understanding of the physiological properties of farnesol and the potential use of the agent as a candidate for treatment development. In fact, since the turn of the last century, farnesol has been found not only to trigger apoptosis in tumor cells but also to be able to function as a quorum-sensing molecule in Candida albicans to influence infection dynamics. By offering a snapshot of recent advances in research on farnesol, it is expected that this article can provide more insights into future research on farnesol for the development of different treatment strategies.

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Keywords

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