Programmed cell death (PCD) is decisive in eliminating affected cells in human cancers, whereas there are increasing cases of cancer-related death due to side effects of modern treatment methods. There is an urge for new methods of growth inhibition and elimination of cancer cells with a lower cytotoxicity to normal cells. Irregularity along PCD pathways plays a crucial role in cancer cell carcinogenesis. Apoptosis is a distinct cell death mechanism occurring in multicellular organisms and also called type one programmed cell death. Autophagy and paraptosis are non-apoptotic PCD occurring in multicellular organisms. Natural compounds are the fundament of pharmacological treatments, and flavonoids are natural polyphenolic compounds which are unique due to their diverse chemical structures and various biological active mechanisms like anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative and much more. This gives an increasing number of studies indicating that some flavonoids from medicinal plants could be promising candidates for new natural anticancer drugs, which attract high interests of academic researchers and advanced users. An understanding of the underlying mechanism of PCD induced by flavonoids in cancer cells is important as it plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of many diseases. This systematic review is to report flavonoids and their derivatives as new anticancer candidates to stimulate PCD with a different mechanism based on the pharmacological evidence.

• Venu Venkatarame Gowda Saralamma(Research Institute of Life science and College of Veterinary Medicine, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, 52828, Korea)
• Eun Hee Kim(Department of Nursing Science, International University of Korea, Jinju, 52833, Korea)
• Ho Jeong Lee(Research Institute of Life science and College of Veterinary Medicine, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, 52828, Korea)
• Suchismita Raha(Research Institute of Life science and College of Veterinary Medicine, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, 52828, Korea)
• Won Sup Lee(Department of Internal Medicine, Institute of Health Sciences, Gyeongsang National University School of Medicine, Jinju, 52727, Korea)
• Jeong Doo Heo(Gyeongnam Department of Environment Toxicology and Chemistry, Toxicity Screening Research Center, Korea Institute of Toxicology, Jinju, Korea)
• Sang Joon Lee(Gyeongnam Department of Environment Toxicology and Chemistry, Toxicity Screening Research Center, Korea Institute of Toxicology, Jinju, Korea)
• Chun-Kil Won(College of Veterinary Medicine, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52828, Korea)
• Gon-Sup Kim(Research Institute of Life science and College of Veterinary Medicine, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, 52828, Korea) Corresponding author