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Dr. Axe Wire · Food, herbs & supplements · health
Licorice Compound Triggers Iron-Driven Cell Death In Lung Cancer Cells And Mice
A natural flavonoid from licorice drove lung cancer cells toward iron-dependent death and slowed tumors in mice without obvious organ damage.
A compound derived from licorice root triggered an iron-dependent form of cell death in non-small cell lung cancer cells and slowed tumor growth in mice, according to a study published October 8, 2026 in The American Journal of Chinese Medicine.
Researchers tested isoliquiritigenin, a flavonoid compound found in licorice, against non-small cell lung cancer cells in lab dishes and in mice carrying human lung tumor grafts. The compound slowed cell proliferation, stalled the cell cycle, and pushed cancer cells toward ferroptosis, a form of cell death driven by iron and fat breakdown products. Sample size for the cell and animal experiments was not reported. In mice, isoliquiritigenin inhibited tumor growth without significant organ toxicity and increased the cancer-killing effect of the chemotherapy drug cisplatin when the two were combined.
The authors report that isoliquiritigenin binds to and activates a protein called Nrf2, which switches on another protein, HMOX1. That chain of events disrupts the cell's iron balance, flooding it with reactive iron until the cell dies through ferroptosis. The researchers also found that adding an iron-binding drug partially blocked this effect, supporting iron overload as the mechanism rather than a side effect. Ferroptosis has drawn interest as a cancer target because some tumor cells resist the more common forms of programmed cell death chemotherapy relies on.
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ISL induces ferroptosis by activating the Nrf2/HMOX1/CP pathway, leading to iron overload, thus exerting an effective antitumor effect on NSCLC.
This is lab and mouse research, not a human trial, and the abstract does not report how many cells or animals were used in each experiment. Whether isoliquiritigenin reaches effective concentrations in human tumors, or produces the same effect in people, has not been tested.
Dr. Axe’s Take
This is exactly the kind of plant compound I pay attention to, because ferroptosis is a legitimate and growing target in cancer research, and licorice root has centuries of use in Chinese herbal medicine for inflammation and respiratory support. But this is mouse and lab-dish data, not a reason for anyone fighting lung cancer to self-treat with licorice extract. If you're in active cancer treatment, keep taking what your oncologist has prescribed, including chemotherapy, and talk to your doctor before adding any herbal compound, since some botanicals interact with chemo drugs. What I'd watch for next is whether this mechanism holds up in human trials.
— Dr. AxeStory summary
- Who
- Non-small cell lung cancer cells and A549 xenograft mice; sample size not reported
- Design
- In vivo and in vitro mechanistic study with proteomic and molecular analyses
- Dose
- Not reported
- Primary result
- Isoliquiritigenin induced ferroptosis and inhibited tumor growth in mice without significant organ toxicity
- Secondary
- Synergized with cisplatin to increase antitumor effect; iron chelator DFO partially reversed ferroptosis, supporting iron overload as the mechanism
- Funding / conflicts
- Funders listed in the journal record: Project Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China; China Postdoctoral Science Foundation; Chongqing Joint Science-Health Major Research Project; Chongqing Traditional Chinese Medicine Innovation Team Construction Project. Conflicts not reported in the abstract.
- Date
- Oct 8, 2026