Gynaecological Cancers

Berberine has shown meaningful activity across ovarian, cervical, and endometrial cancer models.

The biology is not identical across these diseases, but the overall signal is broad enough to justify grouping them together here.

Ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer is one of the more interesting newer berberine directions.

A key recent theme is lipid-metabolism disruption.

Reported findings include:

• reduced lipid uptake and utilisation

• lower proliferation and migration in vitro

• reduced peritoneal metastasis and malignant ascites in vivo

• a more favourable inflammatory tumour microenvironment

That is important because advanced ovarian cancer often depends heavily on lipid reprogramming and peritoneal spread biology.

Berberine has also shown apoptosis-related effects through p53, Bax, caspase-3, and Bcl-2 modulation.

Cervical cancer

Berberine is especially notable in cervical cancer because of its overlap with HPV-driven biology.

Reported findings include:

• suppression of viral oncoproteins E6 and E7

• possible restoration of p53-linked tumour-suppressor function

• reversal of TGF-β1-driven EMT

• restoration of E-cadherin and reduced invasive behaviour

That gives cervical cancer one of the most disease-specific mechanistic reasons to pay attention to berberine.

Endometrial cancer

In endometrial cancer, the strongest themes are:

• PI3K / Akt pathway suppression

• apoptosis induction

• G2/M cell-cycle arrest

• regulation of the circ_ZNF608 / miR-377-3p / COX-2 axis

• sensitisation to paclitaxel in preclinical models

• additional interest in metformin combination settings

This is especially relevant because PI3K/Akt pathway dysregulation is common in endometrial cancer.

Practical interpretation

This grouped section matters because berberine is not acting through one generic mechanism.

Its gynaecological relevance appears disease-specific:

• ovarian: lipid metabolism and peritoneal metastasis

• cervical: HPV oncoprotein and EMT suppression

• endometrial: PI3K/Akt signalling and paclitaxel sensitisation

The evidence is still preclinical, but it is richer and more tailored than many readers might expect.

References

Ovarian Cancer ⭐⭐⭐

Lipid metabolism, peritoneal metastasis, TME immune infiltration (2025 — most current):

Li X, et al. (2025). Berberine inhibits metastasis of ovarian cancer by blocking lipid metabolism, alleviating aging of adipose tissue and increasing tumor infiltrating immune cells. Translational Oncology, 56:102380.
🔗 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40252400/[pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih
](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40252400/)(PMC full text also available: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12033994/)[pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12033994/)

Cervical Cancer ⭐⭐⭐

HPV E6/E7 suppression, epigenetic modification, p53 targeting — mechanistic study:

Rauf A, et al. (2014). Berberine alters epigenetic modifications, disrupts microtubule network, and modulates HPV-18 E6-E7 oncoproteins by targeting p53 in cervical cancer cell HeLa: a mechanistic study including molecular docking. European Journal of Pharmacology, 744:132–146.
🔗 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25448308/[pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25448308/)

Dual anti-cervical cancer and anti-HIV activity (2024):

(2024). Berberine: A dual anti-HIV and anti-cervical cancer compound. PMC.
🔗 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11601857/[pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11601857/)

Endometrial Cancer ⭐⭐⭐

circ_ZNF608/miR-377-3p/COX2 axis — in vivo xenograft confirmed:

Wang H, et al. (2022). Berberine inhibits the development of endometrial cancer through circ_ZNF608/miR-377-3p/COX2 axis. Autoimmunity, 55(7):485–495.
🔗 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35876160/[pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35876160/)