Mechanistic insights into the therapeutic potential of β-elemene on glioma and other central nervous system diseases.

Abstract

The central nervous system (CNS) governs critical physiological processes, and its dysregulation drives severe pathologies, particularly glioma, a life-threatening malignancy with limited therapeutic options. β-elemene (ELE), the bioactive compound derived from Curcuma wenyujin, exhibits potent anti-glioma activity as both a monotherapy and in synergy with chemo- or radiotherapy. Beyond glioma, ELE demonstrates therapeutic versatility across CNS disorders, including traumatic brain injury, ischemic stroke, spinal cord injury, neuropathic pain, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, and obesity-associated microbiota-gut-brain axis dysfunction. Mechanistically, modulation of key signaling pathways implicated in neoplastic proliferation, metastasis, neuroinflammation, apoptosis, and oxidative stress positions ELE as a promising candidate for repurposing traditional medicine in modern neurotherapeutics. This review synthesizes ELE's therapeutic efficacy, elucidates the underlying molecular mechanisms, and highlights outstanding questions to guide future research for ELE therapies, advocating for integrating traditional Chinese medicine-driven approaches into modern pharmacological innovation with favorable treatment outcomes.